Pizza Hut Unpaid Wage Lawsuit Investigation

What’s Going On?

Most restaurants are required to “make up the difference” when an employee’s tips plus their hourly wage do not equal the minimum wage. For instance, if a tipped employee earns an hourly wage of $2.13 per hour, but only earns three dollars in tips that hour, the employer is required by federal law to make up the difference ($2.12). It is believed that some Pizza hut franchisees may not be meeting this requirement.

What Started This Investigation?

Attorneys began looking into Pizza Hut’s wage practices after employees at a New York location hit their franchisee with a proposed class action lawsuit.

The suit claimed that V & J National Enterprises did not pay its servers properly in regard to both minimum wage and overtime pay. Specifically, the lawsuit claimed V & J did not pay its servers additional wages when their tips failed to bring their earnings up to at least the minimum wage. Additionally, the franchisee never informed its workers that they should be receiving extra money when their tips and hourly salaries did not meet the minimum wage, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges violations of federal and state labor laws.

In 2014, Los Angeles franchisees of both Domino’s and Pizza Hut were hit with lawsuits making similar accusations.

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