Manhattan Mexican Restaurant Picante Named in Former Employee’s Wage and Hour Suit

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The owners and operators of Manhattan Mexican restaurant Picante have been named in a proposed collective action filed by a former employee seeking allegedly unpaid minimum, overtime, and spread-of-hours wages. The woman says she was employed by the defendants as a general assistant and “ostensibly as a supervisor”; however, she was allegedly required to spend a significant portion of each day performing non-supervisory duties such as preparing food and cleaning. The defendants supposedly refused to pay the woman proper overtime wages, insisting that her position fell under a managerial exemption. The suit argues, however, that her primary duties were non-managerial in nature and didn’t include supervising employees or making employment decisions. She claims she worked anywhere from 45 to 94 hours per week at various times throughout her employment and should have been paid time-and-a-half wages for her overtime hours.

Despite the alleged misclassification, the case claims the defendants didn’t even pay the plaintiff the wages she would have been due as a manager, noting that her fixed daily wages fell below the state’s minimum salary required for management positions. On top of premium overtime and spread-of-hours pay, the lawsuit argues that the plaintiff should have been paid the full minimum wage for all her hours worked.

The complaint further claims the plaintiff was not provided with proper meal and rest breaks or accurate wage statements in accordance with state law.