Restaurant owners under investigation

Multiple well-known restaurant owners are being targeted in a lawsuit claiming they underpaid their workers. While this weeks targets are Michael White and Chris Cannon, this comes after the lawsuits filled against Mario Batali, Joe Bastianich, and Masaharu Morimoto.  Each lawsuit states a similar case: "that restaurants are depriving low-level employees of due tip wages in violation of state and federal labor laws".  For example, in the case against Mr. White three employees claim that the manager shared their tips as well as required them to buy and clean their own uniforms, which is in clear violation of state laws. The frustrated employees are seeking "unpaid wages and tips, interest, liquidated damages and attorney's fees, and class-action certification".  As mentioned in the Wall Street Journal, "Nearly a dozen suits filed against high-profile restaurants over the past year were lodged by Outten & Golden or Maimon Kirschenbaum of Joseph, Herzfeld, Hester & Kirschenbaum LLP" and they must be sure to have hard evidence before filing a case.  Often lawyers only focus on the workers filing the lawsuit, but the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York knows to be careful when suing a restaurant by first looking for a pattern in the hopes of guaranteeing that they make an impact on the restaurant workers as a whole.

I believe that the law firms are acting ethically by filing lawsuits against the restaurants because clearly the companies have acted unprofessional as well as broken the law. Evidence is clearly the most important aspect of any case and if the law firms wish to make a lasting impression on the restaurant industry they must have more than one or two plaintiffs before pursuing their case.  Although, I am surprised that such well-known restaurants owners are the target of such a case.  Considering their success, one would think that they would have the monetary ability to treat their employees respectfully without having to break the law.