Miller’s Ale House Underpaid Tipped Workers, Lawsuit Alleges

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Miller’s Ale House, Inc. faces a proposed class and collective action wherein a former employee claims the restaurant chain has failed to pay tipped workers proper wages.

The 27-page lawsuit more specifically alleges Miller’s Ale House has failed to provide both proper notice to tipped workers—including waiters, servers and bartenders—of its intent to apply a tip credit to their wages and reimbursement for the costs of purchasing required uniforms. Moreover, Miller’s Ale House workers performed excessive amounts of untipped work without being paid at least the full minimum hourly wage rate for those activities, the case alleges.

According to the complaint, these practices ultimately caused tipped employees to be underpaid under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act.

The lawsuit states that the defendant operates Miller’s Ale House restaurants in Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia, at which it employs tipped waiters, servers and bartenders. Per the suit, Miller’s pays these workers less than the minimum wage and purports to utilize a tip credit against its minimum wage obligations. 

The case alleges, however, that Miller’s has failed to satisfy the strict requirements that must be met by an employer who intends to take a tip credit against its obligation to pay the full minimum wage. For one, the lawsuit claims, the defendant failed to provide tipped employees with notice of the amount of cash wages they were to be paid, the amount their wages would be increased on account of the tip credit, that all tips earned by an employee must be retained by the individual (except in the case of a valid tip pool), and that the tip credit does not apply to employees who do not receive proper notice of it.

The plaintiff, who worked as a waitress and bartender at a Willow Grove, Pennsylvania Miller’s Ale House between August 2018 and January 2021, says she and other workers were also required to perform untipped work—such as cleaning, washing dishes, polishing glasses, wiping countertops, stocking supplies, taking out trash and sanitizing surfaces— that was unrelated to their tipped occupation without being paid the full minimum wage for that time.

“As a result, Plaintiff and the Class Members were engaged in dual occupations while being compensated at the tip credit subminimum wage rate,” the complaint says. “While performing these non-tip generating duties, they did not interact with customers and could not earn tips.”

The lawsuit further claims that tipped workers were required to spend more than 20 percent of their time on non-tipped duties related to their tipped work, including setting up and cleaning tables, rolling silverware, wiping booths and filling condiments. According to the case, Miller’s Ale House workers spent significant amounts of time on these duties, including before and after the restaurant closed and during shifts while not interacting with customers. The suit claims workers were paid a sub-minimum wage rate for non-tipped duties even though they had no opportunity to earn tips during that time.

The lawsuit also alleges Miller’s had the ability to track how much time workers spent on tipped and untipped duties given its timekeeping system allowed employees to clock in at either rate.

The case goes on to claim that because workers spent their own money on required uniforms, including specific styles of shirts, pants, belts and shoes, the unreimbursed costs for these items caused their wages to fall below even the sub-minimum tip credited rate.

“In other words, by requiring Plaintiff and Class Members to pay for these work-related expenses, their hourly rates of pay were reduced by the amount of these uniform costs,” the complaint states. “As a result, they were not even paid the minimum hourly rate necessary for Defendant to claim the tip credit.”

The lawsuit looks to represent current and former tipped employees who worked for Miller’s Ale House for at least one week during the past three years and through the final resolution of the lawsuit.

The case also proposes to cover current and former tipped employees who worked for Miller’s for at least one week in Pennsylvania during the past four years and through the final resolution of the lawsuit.

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