Lexington restaurant chain denies wage theft claims, says woman was never an employee
The Bluegrass Hospitality Group LLC, responded to a class-action lawsuit alleging tip and wage theft by claiming the employee who filed the complaint was never employed by the group.
In April, an employee filed a class-action lawsuit against Drake’s, which is owned by Bluegrass Hospitality Group, headquartered in Lexington. The lawsuit alleges widespread violations involving the failure to uphold federal minimum wage standards across all 23 of its restaurant and bar locations.
The lawsuit was filed by Lauren Boyer, who claims she was a worker at the Cookeville, Tenn., restaurant on behalf of herself and other bartenders and servers. She claims in the suit BHG did not provide servers and bartenders with the legally required notice regarding the use of a tip credit toward their wages.
A month after the initial filing in May, the restaurant responded to the claims and denied most of the complaint’s allegations — including the employment of the woman who filed suit. It claims Boyer was employed by Drake’s, but not BHG, which was listed as the primary defendant in the suit.
BHG owns and operates Drake’s locations in Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Indiana, Alabama, North Carolina and Illinois.
“Plaintiffs claims are barred, in whole or in part, because (BHG) did not employ plaintiffs,” attorneys for BHG wrote. Throughout their response to the complaint, attorneys for BHG repeatedly stated Boyer was not an employee of the company.
Defense attorney LaToi D. Mayo requested the court render judgment in favor of Drake’s and dismiss the complaint in its entirety with prejudice.
Attorneys for either party were not immediately available for comment on Monday morning.
What the complaint against Drake’s alleges
The complaint alleges that Drake’s compensated its employees below the federal minimum wage while requiring them to perform non-tipped duties for more than 20% of their work week.
Some of these duties include sweeping, mopping, rolling silverware and other side work where employees are not being tipped.
Federal law prohibits employers from taking a tip credit when an employee performs tip-supporting work and non-tip-generating duties for more than 20% of their work week.
According to the suit, Drake’s bartenders and servers are required to work for nearly an hour to set up and close the restaurants, clean and prepare tables and organize their sections.
Boyer represents herself and two collectives which allege federal minimum wage violations. The Nationwide Substantial Side Work Collective and Nationwide 80/20 Collective are other plaintiffs listed in the suit. The lawsuit seeks compensation for unpaid wages and damages.
Other wage and tip theft lawsuits against Lexington restaurants
Drake’s is the third Lexington restaurant to face lawsuits over payment practices involving tipped employees.
A lawsuit was announced against Jeff Ruby’s in February for alleged wage and tip theft.
The lawsuit said the defendants took a portion of the tips earned by servers and bartenders and shared the money with back-of-house employees “who did not earn the tips and who did not interact with customers.”
Tony’s Steak and Seafood restaurant agreed to pay $1.5 million as part of a settlement involving employees in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio locations.
The employees alleged the restaurant violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by forcing them and other tipped employees to participate in a tip pool that gave portions of tips to salaried members of management, according to federal court documents and settlement information.
The Tony’s settlement resolved claims for 79 servers in Kentucky, 42 servers in Ohio and 52 servers in Indiana, according to David Garrison, lead attorney in the two cases. In total, the award for plaintiffs in Kentucky was $546,237.65 — more than Indiana and Ohio’s settlement amounts combined.
The average recovery for a class member who participates in the server settlement is $5,250. The largest settlement recovery is more than $35,000, according to court documents.
This story was originally published June 10, 2024 at 11:18 AM.
CORRECTION: Boyer was an employee of Drake’s, but was not employed by Bluegrass Hospitality Group, who was listed as the defendant.
