By Kara Maciel
Our national hospitality practice frequently advises restaurant owners and operators on whether it is legal for employers to pass credit card swipe fees onto employees or even to guests, and the short answer is, yes, in most states. But whether an employer wants to actually pass along this charge and risk alienating
Our colleagues Kara Maciel and Jordan Schwartz, both of Epstein Becker Green, recently cowrote an article for PLC titled “Tipped Employees Under the FLSA.”
Following is an excerpt:
Wage and hour lawsuits certainly are not new phenomena, but in recent years, service industry employees have increasingly made claims regarding tips and service charges.
By: Kara Maciel and Jordan Schwartz
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As discussed in prior blogs, due to confusion surrounding FLSA tip pool requirements, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) Wage and Hour Division enacted a strict rule in 2011 related to proper tip pooling and service charge practices. This rule was met with swift legal challenges, and earlier
By: Kara M. Maciel
In April of 2011, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) changed its rule defining the general characteristics of tips in an attempt to overrule the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Cumbie v. Woody Woo, Inc. ruling that the FLSA does not impose any restrictions on the
By Kara Maciel and Casey Cosentino
The restaurant and hospitality industries are no strangers to the tidal wave of wage and hour class action lawsuits. Restaurants and hotel operators located in states with employee-friendly laws like Massachusetts, New York, and California, are particularly vulnerable. This vulnerability was recently confirmed on April 30, 2012, when Texas Roadhouse, Inc.
Wage garnishment can pose a number of potential problems for hospitality businesses. This is particularly true where the employee whose pay is subject to garnishment receives tips.
Garnishment is a legal procedure in which an employee’s earnings must be withheld by an employer for the payment of a debt under a court
How quickly can $87 million go up in smoke?
Pretty darned quickly, especially if you are referring to the $87 million that was awarded to plaintiffs and their attorneys in a tip-pooling class action against Starbucks in San Diego.
In Chau v. Starbucks (CA4/1 D053491 6/2/09), Jou Chau, a former Starbucks barista