Wage and Labor Claims in the Restaurant, Bar, Food & Beverage Industry

The Department of Labor enforces the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which sets basic minimum wage and overtime pay standards; and, these standards are enforced by the Department’s Wage and Hour Division.  Employers must follow a specific set of rules and regulations for tipped employees – servers, waiters, bartenders, busboys, etc.  Special rules apply to minimum wages and overtime that must be paid to employees working as “tipped employees”.

Restaurant Expert Witness – Howard Cannon has over 30 years of experience in the restaurant, bar, and food service industry.  Having held nearly every conceivable restaurant industry position from dishwasher to CEO.  Since Howard’s humble beginnings in 1987, he has completed projects of all types and sizes, in concepts ranging from fast food to fine dining, for corporate giants and Fortune 500 firms to single-unit independent operators. He has worked in every state of the United States and in several countries around the world; including, Canada, Mexico, England, France, Asia, India, the Philippines, Haiti, and others.

Howard knows the problems that can occur when restaurant employers, either intentionally or unintentionally, fail to pay and/or fail to provide for their employees according to the state and federal rules and regulations; which can involve matters such as:

• Retention of Tips;
• Tip Pooling;
• Requesting Excessive Amounts of Non-Tipped Work;
• Minimum Wage;
• Tip Credits;
• Overtime Pay;
• Child Labor;
• Meal Breaks;
• Rest Periods;
• Safe & Proper Working Conditions;
• Credit Card Tips;
• Service Charges; and,
• More . . .

FLSA Violations in Restaurants – Wage Labor Claims

In 2011, The Wage and Hour Division reported that it collected more than $225 million in back wages for FLSA violations in all industries for the fiscal year — the most the division has collected in a single year.  According to a DOL (Department of Labor) representative, Restaurants represented about 10-percent of those back wages – as reported by the National Restaurant Association.

Many of these restaurant wage-and-hour violations include “employers paying cash wages ‘off the books’ rather than maintaining legally required employment records; paying employees a fixed salary for all hours worked, without regard to the FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime requirements; falsifying employees’ time and payroll records; failing to pay the required minimum wage for all hours worked; failing to calculate overtime for tipped employees at the proper rate; and making deductions for uniforms, breakages and customer walk-outs that result in employees being paid below the required minimum wage.”

For a FREE, no-obligation initial consultation regarding your Restaurant, Bar, or Food & Beverage Industry Wage and Labor Claim, call Restaurant Expert Witness – Howard Cannon:  800.300.5764.