Business & Tech
Wait Staff Sues Restaurateur Mario Batali for $5.25M
Eleven waiters and bartenders at Batali's eight New York restaurants sued in 2010 in Manhattan Federal Court, alleging violations of New York Labor Law and the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Celebrity chef Mario Batali, owner of the popular restaurant , as well as the original Tarry Lodge in Port Chester NY, brought by employees of his New York restaurants after they discovered management had been skimming their tips for serving wine and alcohol.
According to a report in Courthouse News, eleven waiters and bartenders at eight New York restaurants — Babbo, Bar Jamon, Casa Mono, Del Posto, Esca, Lupa, Otto and Tarry Lodge — sued Batali and partner Joseph Bastianich in 2010 in Manhattan Federal Court, alleging violations of New York Labor Law and the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The staffers reportedly showed that restaurant management had a policy of taking up to 5 percent of each shift's wine and alcohol sales from the tip pool. In addition management paid less than minimum wage and failed to pay spread-of-hours pay when employees worked more than 10 hours in a day, according to the report, citing court documents.
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The settlement is still subject to approval by the court, according to the report.
Batali, a host of the daytime talk show The Chew, got himself into a bit of hot water in November when he made some controversial remarks about the US banking industry, while speaking on a panel for Time magazine — a move for which the restaurateur later apologized to his financial services clientele.
