Function servers at the restaurant in Saugus, Massachuset filed a class action lawsuit for allegedly illegally steering tip money to managers. The jury found Hilltop violated Massachusetts wage law by not paying servers the total gratuities added to customers' bills for function events and terminated the four lead plaintiffs in retaliation for complaining about this practice. The jury also found the conduct was outrageous, so the damages will all be tripled under Massachusetts law. The total judgment, including the triple damages, interest, and attorneys' fees will be between $2 and 3 million. (Jul-27-06) [BOSTON GLOBE]
The jury found in the plaintiffs' favor and decided that:
1 - The Hilltop violated the Massachusetts Tip Law by not remitting the total proceeds of service charges added to function bills to function servers. The jury found that managers were not entitled to receive any portion of the service charge because they are not employees who regularly served food and beverages. This part of the case was certified prior to trial as a class action. The jury found damages for the class on this claim to be just over $160,000.
2 - The four lead plaintiffs-Janet Calcagno, Joan Rossi, Sunok Gatchell, and Chong O'Connell-were terminated in retaliation for their complaints about servers not receiving the total service charges and gratuities to which they were entitled. They were all longstanding employees with good records who were called in and fired on the same day. Hilltop claimed they were fired due to performance issues, but there were no performance issues documented in their files or proven at trial.
3 - The jury awarded lost wages to the plaintiffs as follows: Calcagno ($125,000), Rossi ($75,000), Gatchell ($125,000), and O'Connell ($125,000).
4 - The jury found that the Hilltop's violation of the Tip Law was outrageous, and that its termination of the four lead plaintiffs was outrageous. Thus, under the Massachusetts wage law, all of the damages will be trebled.
5 - The total damages found by the jury come to $610,000. With the statutory trebling, the verdict is $1,830,000. With the addition of prejudgment interest and attorneys' fees, the final judgment will be somewhere between $ 2 - 3 million.
Information Providved By:
Shannon Liss-Riordan of Pyle, Rome, Lichten, Ehrenberg & Liss-Riordan
617.367.7200
[EMAIL LAWYER]
