Lemon Leaf Thai Restaurant Facing Ex-Deliveryman’s Lawsuit Over Alleged Wage Abuses

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Lemon Leaf Thai Restaurant and two individual managers have been named as defendants in a proposed collective and class action filed by a former deliveryman who claims he was deprived of proper wages.

The suit says that during his tenure at the Mineola, New York eatery, the plaintiff did not receive lawful minimum, overtime and spread-of-hours wages. According to the case, the man clocked 68 hours each week from August 2016 to October 2018 for a flat monthly rate of only $1800 with no overtime wages. Further, the suit claims the plaintiff was never notified that a tip credit would be applied as an offset to his hourly rate, meaning the man was improperly paid below the state-mandated minimum wage for all hours worked. 

Adding to the defendants’ alleged wage violations, the plaintiff claims he was wrongfully required to “bear the cost” of a $28,000 car he purchased to make deliveries, as well as the vehicle’s maintenance and gas expenses. These alleged out-of-pocket costs “expended on Defendants’ behalf brought [the plaintiff’s] equivalent hourly rate below both the state and federal minimum wage,” the complaint says.

Further, the defendants supposedly violated state law by granting the plaintiff only one 10-minute meal break each shift and requiring him to resume working if a customer placed an order.