Former Employees Accuse Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine of Wage Violations

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The operators of two Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine restaurants in New York City are facing a proposed collective action filed by former waitresses who claim they were deprived of appropriate wages.

The two plaintiffs worked over 40 hours each week without receiving proper minimum and overtime wages, according to the case. The suit says the defendants applied a tip credit to the plaintiffs’ wages without providing the workers with proper notification. Moreover, since the waitresses supposedly spent over 20 percent of each workday cleaning, making empanadas and sandwiches, preparing sauces, and stocking inventory, among other non-tipped tasks, the case argues they should have been paid at least the full hourly minimum wage.

The complaint goes on to claim the defendants maintained a fraudulent time-keeping system that failed to accurately reflect the plaintiffs’ work hours. One plaintiff says she was required “to use two different identification numbers when she punched in and out so that the records would not show the actual hours she had worked.” Similarly, the other plaintiff alleges she was directed to record fewer hours than she actually put in.

Lastly, the suit charges the defendants took unlawful deductions from the workers’ wages for sick days that weren’t taken, broken plates and problems with customer orders.