New York, NY: An employment class action lawsuit alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), has been filed against TGI Friday's, one of the nation's most popular casual dining chains. Specifically, the lawsuit claims TGI Fridays requires its tipped workers to arrive at work well before the start of customer service and to stay at work after the restaurant closes without receiving the minimum wages and overtime to which they are entitled.
The unpaid wage and hour class action lawsuit was filed by four former TGI Friday' employees from metro New York and Fredricksburg, VA. In addition to violations of the FLSA the lawsuit claims the restaurant chain and its parent company Carlson Restaurants, are in violation of the New York Labor Law.
The lawsuit further claims that TGI Friday' management used a centralized time-keeping system to "shave" hours from employee time records and allowing employees to work "off-the-clock" performing non-tip producing side work, which included cleaning the restaurant and preparing food in bulk for customers.
The lawsuit seeks to represent current and former servers, bussers, bartenders, hosts and other tipped workers at the chain that has about 540 domestic locations and 17,700 US employees.
The lawsuit seeks to recover minimum wages, overtime compensation, misappropriated tips, unlawful deductions and other wages from current and former Friday's workers.
Plaintiffs are represented by Justin M. Swartz, lead attorney for the firm Outten & Golden LLP, and Brian Schaffer, an attorney of Fitapelli & Schaffer.
