Lawsuit Claims Oceans 234 Fails to Pay Minimum Wage

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Epic Restaurant Group, Inc. and its owner are the defendants in a proposed class action alleging that the defendants failed to pay their employees the required minimum wage. The plaintiffs, employed as bartenders and a server, were paid hourly and received tips at the defendants’ restaurant, Oceans 234. Their employer allegedly applied a “tip credit” to their pay, meaning that Epic is permitted to pay them up to $3.02 less than the hourly minimum wage if they receive tips or participate in a tip pool among other tipped employees and they are given notice of the tip credit. The suit claims the defendant “failed to meet all the legal requirements for taking a tip credit” and was therefore required to pay its employees the full minimum wage, which it allegedly neglected to do.

According to the complaint, Epic deducted 3% of employees’ credit card tips that were legally entitled to them under the tip credit requirements. Additionally, the defendant allegedly “had a policy or practice” of deducting a portion of the bartenders’ tips if there was a shortage of money in the cash register, if a customer failed to pay a bill, or if a credit card was declined. Because of these practices, the suit argues, the defendant cannot apply a tip credit to its employees’ wages and is required to pay them the full minimum wage.

The complaint further alleges that employees were forced to purchase various items required for their jobs, including uniforms, costumes for parties, and a smartphone application used for scheduling. Employees were also supposedly required to participate in untipped work, including meetings, “cleaning sessions,” and training, which further reduced their pay, the plaintiffs say. The suit claims Epic and its owner violated the Fair Labor Standards Act with “their unlawful policies and pay practices.”