Philadelphia’s Cedar Park Café ‘Rarely’ Paid Servers Wages, Collective Action Alleges

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Two plaintiffs allege in a proposed collective action that SH Restaurant, Inc., which operates the Cedar Park Café in Philadelphia, “rarely, if ever” paid wages to servers, leaving the workers to instead rely on customer tips as their sole form of compensation. Among the alleged Fair Labor Standards Act (and Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Law) abuses listed in the complaint, the plaintiffs’ foremost claim stems from the defendant’s alleged violation of the law’s tip credit provision, specifically its employee notification requirements.

“An employer who fails to provide the required information to their employees informing them of the tip credit provision cannot use the tip credit and therefore must pay the tipped employee at least $7.25 per hour in wages and allow the tipped employee to keep all tips received,” the complaint reads.

The case clarifies that an employer is only permitted to take a tip credit on an employee’s wages if the individual is properly notified and if the credit claimed does not exceed the amount of tips actually received by the employee, money that the case adds must be entirely retained by said employee.

The lawsuit further claims members of the proposed collective frequently worked more than 40 hours per week without additional time-and-a-half overtime pay.