Wage and Hour Suit Filed by Former Terrace Diner Busboy

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A former employee of Terrace Diner claims in a proposed collective action that the business and two individual owners violated several provisions of federal and state labor law by failing to properly compensate him.

The plaintiff claims that while working as a busboy at the Bayside, New York eatery between 1999 and August 2018, he was inappropriately compensated at a tip-credited rate. Since the man allegedly spent a “considerable” portion of his shifts performing non-tipped duties, such as cleaning, stocking fridges, and preparing food, the suit says the defendants were not entitled to take a tip credit against the busboy’s wages. From the complaint:

“New York State regulations provide that an employee cannot be classified as a tipped employee on any day in which he or she has been assigned to work in an occupation in which tips are not customarily received.”

The case further alleges the plaintiff was not required to keep track of his hours worked and that the defendants did not “utilize any time tracking device such as punch cards” to record the plaintiff’s hours and compensate the man accordingly. The former employee claims he was regularly required to work an additional 30 minutes past his scheduled shift for no compensation, the suit says, causing his effective pay rate to fall below the required minimum wage and depriving him of proper overtime pay. Further, the defendants allegedly failed to pay the plaintiff any of his due wages for his final two months of employment.

In addition, the complaint says the defendants failed to furnish a proper wage notice upon hiring the plaintiff and deprived him of accurate wage statements throughout his tenure. The plaintiff also charges he was not reimbursed for “tools of the trade” he was required to purchase to perform his job, such as 15 pairs of pants, 20 shirts and three pairs of non-slip shoes.