I was just reading today about a class action lawsuit that was approved to move forward in the courts. It seems that servers of Applebee’s are an approved class and the action is against Applebee’s International Inc. The suit alleges that servers are required to spend more than 20% of their time doing un-tipped work but that they are only compensated at the tipped employee hourly rate.
The only thing that I could find in the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) with regard to hourly wages for tipped employees is that a tipped employee is defined as one who receives at least $30.00 dollars in tips during one month (this is the federal definition, some states vary.) And that reported tips plus the hourly tipped employee wage rate ($2.13/hr) must equal the federal minimum wage which is now $5.15/hr. I couldn’t find anything that delineated the amount of time spent in tipped or non-tipped activities.
As the estimates are that as many as 60,000 servers may be included in the class, if an average server worked only 20 hours per week, the judgment could zoom past $60 MM not including interest, if the payment shortage was just one dollar per hour. My conclusion is that this is just another example of a frivolous lawsuit brought to court by a greedy firm hoping to cash in big because of the size of the class. When I was in unit level management (at Shoney’s during it’s heyday) all the managers were out earned by the good servers on the wait staff.
Too bad this judge doesn’t seem to have any restaurant management in his background… he’d have thrown the case out with a big belly laugh.
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This is going to be another one of those cases that starts with postcards to 50,000 people saying, “You may be qualified to get in on our shake-down…er…lawsuit”.
And it’ll end with a letter titled, “Class Action Settlement: Applebees vs. waiters” notifying you that you’re eligible for a $5 gift card for every year you worked at Applebee’s.
And $45 million in award to Sleazy, Sue’em, & Slime, attorneys at law.
Dan
Well, I am a server at Applebee’s, and plan to join this lawsuit, however, I do not wish to recieve money. This isn’t about money for me, or getting out of certain work. It is about PROTECTING THE AMERICAN WORKER. Currently the kitchen staff at my restaraunt can barely get thirty hours in a week. Why? Because the servers who make next to nothing as far as labor costs go, DO THEIR JOBS. I think it’s a travesty that America has turned into this kind of corporate structure. It is about time someone stands up and takes action against these CEO’s trying to make one more dollar.
I am standing up for what is right. And what is right is to protect the kitchen staff’s jobs. They keep cutting their hours more and more, and servers AND managers are doing the kitchens jobs. It’s pretty disgusting that I have to go back to the dishwasher, spray off food from plates, I get all wet, look gross, and then go wait on my tables. It is bad for business. That time could be spent making connections with my guests and building relationships. However all I hear is “labor is too high, ” guest per man hour labor” etc. My managers get so much pressure about labor costs. I understand it is a business. However, the greedy people are the CEO’s and board members. THey are wanting the extra dollar taking hours away from Kitchen staff and requiring servers (2.65 hour)and managers (because they are salary) to fill those positions. And guess what BONUS TIME! It’s bull. I’m doing what is right. And I will even put at the bottom of my official filing…”I do not wish to recieve any settlement other than people being paid correctly for the jobs they do, and if they are employeed at applebee’s in the kitchen and do a successful job, they should have no problem getting thirty hours a week.”
Kim – Thanks for stopping by and reading. I can understand how you feel, based upon your perspective. I think, though, after some years of maturation and perhaps some stints in management and, if you are lucky, perhaps even business ownership, you may come to have a different opinion.
i echo Kim’s sentiments TOTALLY…FYI “recruiter” i do have some years of maturation and have had several stints in management and have been a majority partner in 5 sites and minority partner in 1 other…i DID pay servers MORE than the prescibed minimum AND let them have free soup, tossed salads, and FF/BP’s within reason~~it cut down on a whole host of problems and led to great employee morale. Bottom line is…it is fumdementally correct to pay the server doing a kitchen job the same amount as a ‘kitchen’ worker would make
marc
I just want to update this topic. I was a previous employee of Applebee’s, and I am involved in this lawsuit. The final number of participants in the class is 5,500. I also want to let you know, that there is a law that no more than 20% of time worked in a “tipped job” can be spent doing work that is un-tipped. This case is very legitimate because employees were told to spend upwards of 50% of the time at work doing un-tipped duties. Applebee’s used this method of pay because it required servers to do dishes, prep work, etc. and get paid 2.14/hr. for doing it. This saves them a lot of money since they are then free of having to hire a full-time dishwasher or custodian(some of the duties also included cleaning the bathrooms,etc.) Final point, this case is not frivolous and pointless, it is about getting the money due for hours worked from a corporation who knew exactly what they were doing.
The discussion isn’t about how unfairly treated (or paid) servers are, it is about greedy lawyers and class action lawsuits.
The ‘class’ of servers weren’t abused, they didn’t have ball and chain shackled to their ankles. They stayed because they were making serious money, much more than minimum wage.
AFTER the lawsuit, they won’t receive nearly the amount of money, individually as the greedy lawyers.
Who pays for the millions of dollars that will be paid out? Shareholders – made up of ordinary Americans, retirees, pension plans, etc.
Think people, think.