Chop’t Creative Salad Company, Subsidiaries Facing Sprawling Wage and Hour Complaint

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Thirty-five plaintiffs have signed onto a proposed collective action against the entities that operate at least 10 Chop’t salad restaurants across New York City over allegations of unpaid wages. The plaintiffs—current or former Chop’t cleaners, food preparers and delivery workers—allege in the 111-page complaint they’re owed minimum, overtime and spread-of-hours wages. Concurrently, the lawsuit claims the defendants unlawfully applied the Fair Labor Standard Act’s (FLSA) tip credit provision to the wages of delivery drivers, who were allegedly required to spend more than 20 percent of each workday performing non-tipped duties around Chop’t restaurants.

“Upon information and belief, [the defendants] have employed the policy and practice of disguising [the plaintiffs] actual duties in payroll records by designating them as … delivery workers instead of non-tipped employees,” the complaint reads. “This has allowed [the defendants] to avoid paying [the plaintiffs] at the minimum wage rate and enabled them to pay them at the lower tip-credited rate.”

Each plaintiff further claims the defendants required them to purchase their own “tools of the trade,” including bicycles, helmets, lights, and maintenance and repairs for the bikes, without reimbursement.