NEW ORLEANS – A restaurant server is suing a New Orleans establishment, alleging tip appropriation and refusing to pay overtime.
James Black, et al, individually and on behalf of those similarly situated, filed a collection action suit March 31 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana against DMNO LLC, doing business as Doris Metropolitan, alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
According to the complaint, Doris engaged in wage theft and willful violations of the FLSA when it appropriated a percentage of servers’ tips in order to subsidize managers’ salaries. The suit says the defendant paid its servers $2.13 per hour and took a tip credit from customer tips to satisfy the required $7.25 minimum wage.
The defendant allegedly required servers to “tip out” 10 percent of their credit card tips to managers and 25 percent to server assistants. Cash tips, the suit says, were also irresponsibly and illegally distributed.
Additionally, Black alleges Doris refused to pay overtime to employees and failed to pay tipped employees minimum wage for hours worked where there was no opportunity to earn tips. Shannon McSwain, another Doris server, regularly worked more than 40 hours per week and was never paid overtime, the complaint says.
The plaintiffs seek wages and/or tips owed to them, all allowable damages under the FLSA, including liquidated damages as well as all cost incurred by this suit, plus any other rewards deemed just by the court. They also ask leave to amend the case for any future claims. They are are represented by attorneys Laura L. Catlett from New Orleans and Megan Jacqmin from Convington.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana Case number 2:16-cv-02708