Chickie's & Pete's to pay $8.5M in short-tipping case
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
"Pete's Tax" has proved costly. Chickie's & Pete's, the Philadelphia sports bar and restaurant chain, has agreed to pay $8.52 million in back wages and damages to employees for illegally docking a portion of their tips and failing to properly pay minimum wage, overtime, and other required income.
Of that amount, $6.8 million is to be paid to 1,159 past and present employees to resolve an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department. The remaining $1.68 million is to settle federal lawsuits by about 90 current and former employees. Lost income to the workers at the chain's 12 outlets amounted to $4.5 million over two years, eight months, ending in December 2012.
The chain will also pay a $50,000 civil penalty to resolve what the Labor Department called "one of the largest tipped-employee investigations in recent years."
"Chickie's and Pete's behavior is troubling because they both unlawfully took tips from their workers and failed to pay them even the $2.13 per hour the law requires," said Laura Fortman, principal deputy administrator for the department's Wage and Hour Division. Rather, workers were paid $15 a shift, which did not meet the minimum when a shift exceeded seven hours.
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20140221_Chickie_s___Pete_s_to_pay__8_5M_in_short-tipping_case.html
Dustlawyer
(10,497 posts)smiley
(1,432 posts)He should in jail.
unblock
(52,393 posts)their penalty was less than 1% of the amount stolen. i'm sure that's less than their cost of funds!
freebrew
(1,917 posts)in the ozarks.
marble falls
(57,395 posts)MicaelS
(8,747 posts)I read that as forced "tip sharing" as being illegal. As it should be.
greymattermom
(5,754 posts)She reported them to the Ohio labor board and got her money back. Because they didn't keep records of what she was paid, they had to pay her regular minimum wage, not wait staff wage. It took a few months but was way worth it. For folks near UC, you probably go there for coffee all the time. They had a practice of not paying anything for the first 2 weeks of work, then firing people.
AnneD
(15,774 posts)wage theft is more common than not. Think of the unpaid intern positions in various companies. People need to stop accepting this treatment and calling these bastards on this.
QuestForSense
(653 posts)valerief
(53,235 posts)valerief
(53,235 posts)onehandle
(51,122 posts)Especially after looking at their 'beer specials.'
Ick.
http://chickiesandpetes.com/beer-specials
Victory Brewing has a brewpub across the street in South Philly. That's where we go when we are down there for a game or an event.
PatSeg
(47,675 posts)It is the server who has to pay taxes on a percentage of their sales, whether they received that amount or not. They were being robbed coming and going.