Lately popular restuarant owners, including Masaharu Morimoto of "Iron Chef", have been targeted with lawsuits by attornies. These attornies are representing low-level employees who have supposedly been underpayed, have not recieved tips, and have not recieved an extra hour of pay after working ten or more hours as stated in state laws.
Large law firms are behind these lawsuits. Mr. Kirschendaum who has filed several law suits in the last year says, "We don't chase people, people chase us. They're being wronged, they're being taken advantage of by big corporations with a lot of power."
The ethical question that arises is whether or not it is right for a restaurant to steal some tips from their workers to increase profit. Although it seems like an obvious no, that extra profit may keep the restaurant from having to lay off one employee. The $20 one may lose from not recieving their tips does not compare to a years pay. However, an employee should recieve the pay they earn, and therefore, has caused employees to file suits against their employers.
One of Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich restaurants' Del Posto is said to "create an ambiance filled with the warmth, bouyancy, and lightheartedness of the Italian Spirit." However, they have a lawsuit filed against them for physical and sexual harassment, racial discrimination, and not paying some workers their "due tip wages" . This shows that the "lightheartedness" presented to its customers does not extend as far as the employees.
Batali and Bastianich have not released any comments on the situation. Eanni-Rodriguez, director at Restaurant Opportunites Center said, "We're still speaking with the company. I don't think they really have a sincere interest to fix things. We're at the point where workers wanted to really take actions." This statement shows that the company has not taken this event to heart. People make mistakes, but they should feel obligated to fix this situation with their workers. They should have earned at least respect from their employers who have been unethically insulting then.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882304575465913350852120.html?KEYWORDS=restaurant+industry
This ethical dilemma- whether to support the wages of the workers and their tips versus the restaurant- is a serious one. I definitely agree with the side of the employer, because in a workplace in which wages are so low- a restaurant- it does not make sense for the employees to try to keep a full staff, and steal tips from workers. I also agree that this case is getting in the way of the reputation of the generally warm hearted, bubbly Mario Batali, especially if he is being accused of other disgraceful acts: "physical and sexual harassment; racial discrimination; and not paying some workers their 'due tip wages.' Hopefully Batali can redeem his reputation.
ReplyDeleteNice post Kat! Good job including your opinion at the end. It is interesting to see how often this is happening through posts by you and other hotel industry students. It's hard to believe servers are being underpaid, as minimum wage in some areas is already only about $2.50 for tip based wages.
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