Chili's Restaurant / Quality Dining

SERVING THE GREATER PHILADELPHIA AREA AND BEYOND

This lawsuit seeks to recover unpaid wages for restaurant servers who worked for Chili's restaurants operated by Quality Dining, Inc. in Pennsylvania. Chili’s paid the servers a combination of (i) an hourly wage of $2.83 and (ii) customer tips. Federal and Pennsylvania wage laws generally require that workers receive a minimum wage of $7.25/hour. However, restaurants are allowed to pay as little as $2.83/hour as long as the servers receive tips that make up the difference between $2.83 and $7.25. This provides a big benefit to restaurants. But, in order to take advantage of this benefit, restaurants must follow some strict rules. One rules is that servers tips may not be shared with other restaurant employees who do not interact with customers. In this lawsuit, the servers allege that Chili's violated this rule by requiring the servers to share some of their tips with Expediters (also know as Expos, QAs, and Quality Assurance staff). According to the servers, the Expediters did not significantly interact with the customers and, as a result, the restaurant should have paid the servers $7.25 (instead of $2.83) per hour. Of course, the restaurant denies violating any laws. 

This lawsuit is concluded. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or desire any additional information. We would be happy to answer your questions and, if permitted, provide you with additional information.