ABV Brewing Companies Hit with Lawsuit Over Alleged Labor Law Violations

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Artisanal Brewing Ventures (ABV) and subsidiary Artisanal Brewing Ventures Charlotte, LLC face a proposed class and collective action in which a former employee says she and other tipped workers were not properly paid for all hours worked.

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The 27-page lawsuit alleges brewing company Craft Revolution, LLC—which does business as ABV—has run afoul of federal and state labor laws by improperly applying a tip credit against tipped employees’ pay, resulting in workers being paid less than minimum wage. In addition, the defendants have unlawfully required employees to perform unpaid off-the-clock work and numerous non-tipped duties, the suit claims.

According to the case, the North Carolina-based companies operate taprooms in multiple states under brands including Southern Tier Brewing Company, Victory Brewing Company, Bold Rock Hard Cider, Sixpoint Brewery and Southern Tier Distilling Company.

Under federal and state labor laws, employers are only allowed to claim a tip credit—whereby the employer can include a worker’s tips as part of its minimum wage obligation—if they comply with strict notification requirements, the complaint explains. However, the filing contends that rather than notify employees of the details of the tip credit as required by law, ABV “chose to simply pay their Tipped Employees a sub-minimum wage.”

The lawsuit further charges that tipped workers were often required to perform job duties when there was no possibility of generating tips, such as before a taproom opened or after it closed. The plaintiff, a former bartender at a taproom in Pittsburgh, says she frequently worked off the clock at times when there was no chance of making tips.

The woman claims she usually started her shift roughly 15 minutes before the taproom opened to the public and stayed between 30 and 90 minutes after the last customer left. The plaintiff alleges that after closing, her supervisors would “automatically clock her out so that management could perform their end-of-night accounting even though [she] was still performing closing tasks.”

Additionally, the suit contends that during the plaintiff’s shift, she was required to perform running side work that was unrelated to her tip-generating job duties, such as washing glassware and stocking bar supplies, kegs and liquor. Per the suit, the plaintiff was unlawfully paid a sub-minimum wage while performing these non-tip-generating tasks.

“To the best of [the plaintiff’s] recollection, she believes she spent approximately one-third of her total shift performing side work tasks,” the case notes.

The plaintiff also says she was regularly required to surrender some of her tips in order to cover shortages in the cash register. Moreover, she does not recall her employer ever notifying her of the details of the tip credit and her rights as mandated by law, the complaint relays.

“Rather, [the plaintiff] simply recalls being told that she would be paid $2.83 per hour and that, effectively, ‘tips would make up everything beyond that,’” the filing adds.

The lawsuit looks to represent any current or former tipped employees—including servers, server assistants, food runners and bartenders—who worked for ABV or Artisanal Brewing Ventures Charlotte, LLC in the United States during the applicable statute of limitations period.

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