On Tuesday, 27 workers from Mario Batali's new restaurant Del Posto filled a lawsuit stating they were unlawfully paid. Ironically this newly helmed restaurant was recently awarded a fourth star by the New York Times. This lawsuit was filled by busboys, waiters and a few other staff who stated that "managers at Del Posto improperly pooled workers' tips in violation of state labor laws and illegally withheld a portion of some gratuities on wine and cheese sales."
Tip-pooling has increasingly become a problem for many restaurants, especially for those run by celebrity chefs. Amidst this scandal, the restaurant was praised by "food critic Sam Sifton as a pleasure that lasts, offering memories of flavors that may return later in a dream". The workers a Del Posto claim that they were subjected to a point system to determine how much they received in gratitude. The system is set up so the highest waitstaff are awarded six points, followed by five points for the bartenders, four for waiters, and increasingly smaller amounts for lower staff. The lawsuit also says that staff who worked banquets were not awarded a share of the 23% billed to customers and were instead given a flat fee. The goals of the lawsuit include "backpay, unspecified damages, and attorney's fees.
I wrote about an article similar to this a couple of weeks ago where multiple celebrity chefs, Batali included, were getting away with underpaying their staff. I'm not sure if this is a fault of the manager of the restaurants or due to the owners, but you would think that they would have learned from their first lawsuit to pay their employees properly. I believe that this is an ethical as well as legal wrong doing on the part of the restaurant, especially given all of the positive feedback it has received from food critics. Customers will not be drawn to restaurants were there is known maltreatment of employees and I believe it is in their best interest to admit their faults and start paying the employees their due amount.
I agree, I feel like these restaurants should get the hint once they've been hit with a lawsuit. But I suppose they do not because their profit is too large for them to pay attention to lower staff... I also agree that this is an ethical problem. I wonder how they are going to deal with it though, considering this is happening on multiple occasions. I think these chefs, especially celebrity chefs because they have huge egos, really need to step back and consider the consequences of their actions (driving customers away, loss of profit, loss of employees, etc). Maybe they will realize the repercussions of their actions once they begin losing profit.
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