in Newswire Published on January 30, 2023

Lawsuit Claims LongHorn Steakhouse Owes Tipped Employees Unpaid Wages

Patton v. Rare Hospitality International, Inc.

Filed: January 24, 2023 ◆§ 3:23-cv-00331

A collective action claims the parent company of LongHorn Steakhouse has failed to satisfy federal rules that would allow it to pay tipped employees at a rate below the hourly minimum wage.

Defendant(s)

Rare Hospitality International, Inc.

Law(s)

Fair Labor Standards Act

State(s)

South Carolina

A proposed collective action claims the parent company of LongHorn Steakhouse has failed to satisfy federal rules that would allow it to pay tipped employees at a rate below the hourly minimum wage.

Want to stay in the loop on class actions that matter to you? Sign up for ClassAction.org’s free weekly newsletter here.

The 12-page case against Rare Hospitality International, Inc. alleges the company has run afoul of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by failing to provide certain employees, including servers and bartenders, with adequate notice that a tip credit would be applied to their hourly wages, and failing to observe strict rules pertaining to non-tipped side work. As a result of these violations, the company has forfeited its right to pay sub-minimum wages to employees who receive tips, the suit argues.

Despite its apparent non-compliance with the FLSA, Rare Hospitality International, the filing claims, “knowingly, willfully, and/or with reckless disregard of the law” by continuing to take a tip credit against its minimum wage obligations. The complaint contends that Rare Hospitality International must compensate tipped LongHorn employees at “the applicable federal, state, or local minimum wage rate,” as well as provide any tips the company has allegedly misappropriated.

The lawsuit shares that if an employer pays a tipped employee below the minimum hourly wage, i.e., takes a “tip credit” against their pay, they must include in their calculation of the worker’s hourly wages the amount that they receive in tips. The employer must also advise the employee in advance that a tip credit will be taken against their wages, the suit relays. In particular, the lawsuit says LongHorn failed to provide employees with a notice specifying:

“(1) [T]he amount of the wage that is to be paid to the tipped employee; (2) the amount by which the wages of the tipped employee are increased due to the tip credit; (3) that all tips received by the employee must be retained by the employee except for tips contributed to a valid tip pool, and (4) that the tip credit shall not apply to any employee who does not receive the notice.”

The case also explains that under the FLSA, an employer is prohibited from requiring servers, bartenders and other tipped employees to spend more than 20 percent of their time, or continuous periods exceeding 30 minutes, performing non-tipped side work related to their tipped profession. Nevertheless, tipped LongHorn employees “spent in excess of two hours and more than twenty percent of their work time engaged in side work duties,” the filing claims.

The filing also claims that Rare Hospitality International violated the FLSA prohibition against an employer requiring a tipped worker to perform non-tipped side work unrelated to their tipped profession, such as cleaning restrooms and the kitchen and/or prepping salads. According to the suit, tipped LongHorn workers were assigned “dual job” tasks which involved duties typically given to back-of-house employees who receive at least the minimum wage, the case states.

The lawsuit looks to cover all current or former LongHorn Steakhouse employees who have been paid a hybrid of a sub-minimum wage hourly pay and tips within the past three years.

Get class action lawsuit news sent to your inbox – sign up for ClassAction.org’s free weekly newsletter here.

Case Spotlight