NYC Eatery Yuqi’s Cuisine Hit with Wage and Hour Lawsuit

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Yuqi’s Cuisine Inc. and four individual owners have been named as defendants in a wage and hour lawsuit filed by two former employees who allege the defendants violated several provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and New York law.

One plaintiff, who worked as a cook for the defendants, claims he put in about 76 to 88 hours each week for a fixed daily salary between $140 and $150. This salary, the case argues, failed to provide the required minimum wage, overtime, and “spread of hours” pay to which the man was entitled under federal and state law.

The other plaintiff, who worked as a server at Yuqi’s Cuisine, says she was also unlawfully underpaid, and claims she worked between 36 and 73 hours each week for a fixed daily salary between $75 and $150. The plaintiff further alleges she was inappropriately compensated with a tip-credited wage because she spent over 20 percent of each workday performing non-tipped duties, such as cleaning, shopping for the restaurant, and preparing food. Further still, the suit charges the defendants unlawfully appropriated a portion of the woman’s gratuities by pocketing four percent of tips left for her on credit cards.

The complaint goes on to accuse the defendants of failing to furnish proper wage notices and accurate wage statements, as well as improper recordkeeping of timesheets and payroll records.