Santa Clara, CA: An unpaid wages and overtime class action lawsuit has been filed against Feast American Diners LLC, a franchisee of 17 Denny’s Corp restaurants in New York state, alleging the restaurant chain willfully misclassified its assistant managers as exempt from overtime.
Filed in New York federal court by lead plaintiff, John Frisbie, the suit claims that despite being scheduled to regularly work 50 to 70 hours each week as an assistant manager, Frisbie was not paid for the overtime hours he worked, in violation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and New York labor law.
The complaint alleges that the defendant deliberately misclassified all of its assistant managers as exempt from minimum wage and overtime requirements, as a means by which to avoid paying overtime wages.
Frisbie, who worked as an assistant manager in the Horseheads, New York, location, further contends that a group of employees at each restaurant were given an assistant manager classification while lacking “managerial responsibilities or the exercise of meaningful independent judgment and discretion,” the complaint states. The suit alleges that the practice was in place while the restaurants were licensed to their previous owners, Top Line Restaurants Inc., Top Line Management LLC and Reveille Management LLC.
The proposed class action seeks to represent all assistant managers who have worked at the Feast, Top Line or Reveille establishments in the three years prior to the complaint being filed.
The suit seeks to recover unpaid overtime compensation and liquidated damages for violations of New York labor law.
Frisbie is represented by Seth Richard Lesser of Klafter Olsen & Lesser LLP. The case is Frisbie v. Feast American Diners LLC et al., case number 6:17-cv-06270, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York.
