Polk County Employees Claim Lakeland Chophouse LLC Did Not Pay Minimum, Overtime Wages

February 7, 2017

Two Polk County residents said that they were not adequately compensated by a restaurant during their employment.

The two filed a complaint on behalf of all others similarly situated on Jan. 25 in the Tampa Division of the Middle District of Florida against Lakeland Chophouse LLC, doing business as Manny’s Original Chophouse.

According to the complaint, the two allege that they worked for more than 40 hours without being paid any overtime compensation during their employment. They hold Lakeland Chophouse LLC, doing business as Manny’s Original Chophouse, responsible because they also failed to pay minimum wages to the two employees and failed to keep an accurate record of their working hours.

It is actually common for employers to violate minimum wage and overtime laws when paying restaurant workers and tipped employees. The most frequent violations are:

• Failing to give workers a paycheck. Some employers do not pay any wages and their servers work solely for tips. This is a violation of the FLSA.
• Not paying minimum wage. Your employer must pay you minimum wage. Minimum wage is currently $8.10 an hour. For tipped employees, the minimum wage is $5.08 with a tip credit maximum of $3.02. However, if this $5.08 lower minimum wage plus the tips the employee actually earns doesn’t add up to at least the full state minimum wage ($8.10), the employer must make up the difference.
• Making you share your tips with employees who do not receive tips. Your employer cannot legally make you share tips with managers, dishwashers, cooks, chefs, or janitors.
• Requiring you to give a portion of your tips to the employer. An employer cannot legally keep any portion of your tips.
• Not paying overtime for hours worked over 40 in a workweek or only paying time-and-a-half of the server rate and not the full minimum wage.
• Making you work off the clock. An employer cannot make you perform any work duties without pay.

If you work as a tipped employee and your employer has failed to pay you what you are legally entitled to, let our Florida Employment Lawyers at Whittel & Melton help. Call us today at 727-823-0000 or contact us online for a free consultation.