In April 2016, Winebrake & Santillo filed a class and collective action lawsuit on behalf of servers employed by Quality Dining, Inc. at Chili’s Grill & Bar franchises in Pennsylvania. The lawsuit is currently in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. A copy of the amended complaint is attached here.
The lawsuit alleges that the restaurants violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act (“PMWA”) by requiring servers to share a portion of their tips through the tip pool with individuals performing the work of expediters (or “Expos”), even though the expediters did not have direct customer interaction. Under the law, servers generally cannot be required to share their tips with other employees who do not have a lot of customer contact.
If you or a family or friend worked as a server at a Chili’s Grill & Bar restaurant in Pennsylvania within the last three years and would like a free and completely confidential consultation or more information about the unpaid wage claims that are currently asserted please give us a call at (215) 866-1551. One of our attorneys would be more than happy to speak with you.