Miami Bar Accused of Taking Tips from Tipped Employees While Claiming Tip Credit
The former bar staff at Doral’s Shoma Bazaar are accusing their bosses of underpaying them by $225,451 by dipping into their tips while paying them under the minimum wage. That’s according to a lawsuit filed in Miami federal court by 11 employees against Shoma Group, LLC. If the plaintiff’s claims are accurate, that works out to an average of $20,495.54 per person.
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Florida State law, businesses can claim a “tip credit” that allows them to pay employees $3.02 under the minimum wage of $11 an hour in Florida. “Tipped employees” according to the U.S. Department of Labor, are defined as any employee who receives more than $30 in tips per month. However, the FLSA places restrictions on employers who claim the tip credit. There’s an entire section of the U.S. Department of Labor’s fact sheet on FLSA rules for tipped employees entitled “Employers, Including Managers and Supervisors May Not ‘Keep’ Tips.” The DoL says that this means that employers cannot keep tips either directly or through a tip pool.
According to the plaintiff’s FLSA lawsuit, Shoma let too many individuals dip into the tip pool, “including but not limited to managers or supervisors who received a portion of the plaintiffs’ tips when they were not ‘tipped’ employees. The lawsuit further claims that Shoma violated the rules for claiming the tip credit. The plaintiffs believe that the business owes its employees another $3.02 per hour worked. That works out to $120.80 over the course of a week, $483.20 in a month, and $6,281.60 over the course of a 52-week year.
“Shoma Bazaar disregarded the FLSA’s prohibition on distributing any of its employees’ tips or overtips to traditionally non-tipped employees by distributing such tips and/or overtips to its’ managers or supervisors,” the lawsuit reads. “In addition to Shoma Bazaar placing managers or supervisors in the tipping pool, Shoma Bazaar incorrectly reported the amount of tips customers left for plaintiffs in credit card transactions.”
The case has since been handed over to U.S. Magistrate Judge Eduardo Sanchez for a settlement conference. Settlement conferences of this variety proceed in much the same manner as mediation before a private arbitrator.
The defendant claims that the wrong entity is being sued and none of the employees are employees of the business named in the lawsuit (Shoma Group, LLC). Instead, the defendants claim that the plaintiffs should be suing Shoma Bazaar One LLC which is a subsidiary of the defendant. The attorney representing the plaintiffs claims he has not been told that the lawsuit names the wrong defendant.
Contact a Tampa, FL FLSA Attorney Today
Florin Gray represents the interests of employees who have been shortchanged by their employers. If you haven’t been paid tips or overtime that you are owed, call our Tampa employment lawyers today to schedule an appointment, and we can begin recovering your money right away.
Source:
miamiherald.com/news/business/article289332070.html
