Tag Archives: Restaurants

by | September 7, 2013 · 7:12 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: Oregon Restaurant Sued For “Racial Discrimination”, Retaliation; Claims “Intentional Bias, Visceral Antagonism”

“…The suit says (the plaintiff) reported Counard’s conduct and “visceral antagonism” to other managers…he was suspended based on an Hospitality Industry Discrimination Lawsuitsallegation that he had told a server to rinse and serve a skewer of shrimp that had fallen on the floor…A month later, after an investigation in which Huleis was not interviewed, he was fired…The lawsuit claims Huleis’ treatment was intentional, was part of a pattern of discrimination against minority employees and was done with a reckless disregard for the company’s societal obligations…”

A Eugene man who says he was fired from his job at the Eugene Red Lobster restaurant because he is of Middle Eastern descent has filed a lawsuit against the chain in federal court. Jim Huleis, who came to Eugene in 2011 to help open a Red Lobster outlet near Valley River Center, seeks unspecified damages on claims of racial discrimination and retaliation. He alleges an area manager who disliked that Huleis was Arab singled him out for bad treatment to discredit and ultimately fire him.

The lawsuit asks the court to issue an injunction barring Red Lobster’s parent company, Florida-based GMRI Inc., from discriminating against people based on race or national origin. It also asks for an award compensating Huleis for his economic losses, including his past and future earnings, and for reinstatement to his job.

In addition, the suit asks for compensation for noneconomic damages and punitive damages and for an award covering his legal costs.

“We are a company known for greatly valuing diversity and have zero tolerance for any form of discrimination, so we take any claim like this very seriously,” Bernstein said in an e-mailed statement. “If there are differences between employees and our company during or after employment, the mutual goal is to resolve these issues in a prompt and fair way, and to do that we have a robust dispute resolution process, which includes mediation and arbitration. Mr. Huleis is pursuing this matter through that process.”

According to the suit, Counard immediately treated Huleis different from other managers, giving him inappropriate tasks, minimizing him and barring him from duties he would usually perform.

For more:  http://www.registerguard.com/rg/news/local/30417354-75/huleis-eugene-lobster-red-says.html.csp

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by | September 6, 2013 · 9:15 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: Florida Sports Bar Sued By Man Attacked By Bouncers; Assault Captured On Cell Phone And Posted Online

“…a bystander caught the incident on his cell phone (and shows) the first punch thrown (at the plaintiff), then a bouncer stomping on his head.  However, Coelho was the one arrested and charged with battery on a law  enforcement officer…(but) what people see from the video (is that) he Sports Bar Lawsuit Over Assault By Bouncerswas the  victim an attorney stated…The state attorney agreed and dropped charges against Coelho…the (sports bar) posted a statement on their Facebook page deeply regretting the matter…The sports bar has also fired the bouncers involved in the altercation (and) they have  since been arrested for the attack…”

A man involved in a fight outside a South Florida bar is filing a lawsuit  against those, he says, are responsible. Alex Coelho was with his girlfriend and friends when he was attacked outside  of Dirty Blondes in Fort Lauderdale Beach back in July.  After a verbal argument  with one of the bartenders, they were escorted outside. As the argument ensued,  Coelho was attacked and beaten by the bouncers. The attack was caught on  camera.

According to the group, they ordered a round of drinks. When one of the  drinks came back wrong, they said the bartender became irate. “‘That’s what you  ordered, if you don’t like it, you can get a drink somewhere else’ type of  deal,” Coelho said. “I offered to pay for another one, and then she called the  bouncers over. I actually offered them, ‘I don’t want any trouble here.’ I  pulled a $10 bill out of my pocket.”

Coelho asked to speak to the bar’s manager once the tension began to rise.  “I work in hospitality, and I understand how people should be treated,” Coelho  said. I definitely wasn’t yelling. I definitely didn’t want to fight or get in a  fight. I’ve never been arrested, ever.”

Read more: http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/21011603710196/man-files-lawsuit-after-bar-fight/#ixzz2e8EiWlNd

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by | September 4, 2013 · 8:35 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Issues: Restaurants Beginning To Replace “Tipping” With Surcharges Or Higher Menu Prices In Response To “Wage Violation Lawsuits”, Cultural Changes

 “…Front-of-house workers are suing one respected restaurant after another, including Dovetail, last month, accusing them of playing fast and Hospitality Industry Wage Violation Lawsuitsloose with the laws on tips. The charges include sharing tips with workers who aren’t eligible for them and making tipped employees spend too much time on what is called sidework, like folding napkins between meals…One such lawsuit was settled for more than $5 million. Some owners now think they can avoid the suits by eliminating tips…”

“…Another change is cultural. The restaurant business can be seen as a class struggle between the groomed, pressed, articulate charmers working in the dining room and the blistered, stained and profane grunts in the kitchen. The rise of chefs that are also owners has brought a few of the grunts to power. But as the average tip has risen to 20 percent or so from 15 percent, the pay for line cooks, dishwashers and others has stayed low…”

“…The self-interest calculation (for servers) may be different now. Credit card receipts and tougher oversight have virtually killed off unreported tips…”

Sushi Yasuda joins other restaurants that have done away with tips, replacing them with either a surcharge (Atera and Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare in New York; Next and Alineain Chicago; Coi and Chez Panisse in the San Francisco Bay Area) or prices that include the cost of service (Per Se in New York and the French Laundry in Healdsburg, Calif.).

These restaurants are numerous enough and important enough to suggest that a tip-reform movement is under way. On the other hand, they are few enough and exceptional enough to suggest that the movement may remain very small, and move very slowly.

Americans have stuck with tipping for years because all parties thought it worked in their favor. Servers, especially in restaurants from the mid- to high-priced, made good money, much of it in cash, and much of that unreported on tax returns. Owners saved on labor costs and taxes. And customers generally believed that tips brought better service.

For more:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/04/dining/leaving-a-tip-a-custom-in-need-of-changing.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

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by | September 2, 2013 · 8:00 am

Hospitality Industry Employment Issues: “Becoming A Resume Lie Detector” From HospitalityLawyer.com

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by | August 31, 2013 · 8:15 am

Hospitality Industry Insurance Update: California Restaurant Employee Injured By Co-Worker’s Prank Entitled To Workers’ Compensation Only; Court Dismisses Lawsuit Against Employer

 “…The waiter received workers’ compensation benefits and sued his employer…The court explained that even if the exception extended to an workers compensation insuranceassault by a “managing representative” the waiter did not show that the lead cook was a managing representative. The lead cook did not exercise general discretionary power of direction and control over the restaurant business or even the kitchen. At most, she made decisions regarding the kitchen work in the evenings…The California Court of Appeal dismissed the suit, finding that workers’ compensation held his exclusive remedy…”

A pizza cook at a restaurant heated a pan before placing a pizza on the pan for a waiter to bring to a customer. Because the pizza pans were generally kept cool, the waiter picked up the pan with his bare hand. When he did so, he screamed and dropped the pan. He suffered serious and permanent burn injuries.

The waiter acknowledged that before his burn injury there was substantial horseplay among the restaurant employees. The employees routinely engaged in practical jokes. He claimed that after he burned his hand he saw the lead cook and other employees laughing.

The court rejected the waiter’s argument that exceptions to the exclusivity provision applied. He did not show that the employer committed a physical assault or had any involvement or knowledge of the incident or that the lead cook or pizza cook acted on the employer’s behalf.

The waiter also did not show that the employer or any managers were aware that the lead cook had any responsibility for his burn injuries or that she was involved in an assault toward him. A restaurant manager questioned employees about the incident but only learned that the pizza cook was responsible for placing the hot pan.

For more:  http://www.riskandinsurance.com/story.jsp?storyId=533354776

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by | August 29, 2013 · 5:59 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: Ohio Restaurant Operator Sued For “Fair Labor Standards Act” Violations And “Unjust Enrichment”; Employees Forced To “Tip Out” Managers And Others Not Regularly Receiving Tips

“…According to the lawsuit, restaurant employees weren’t allowed to keep all of their tips because they were required to “tip Hospitality Industry Wage Violation Lawsuitsout” managers and other employees who do not regularly and customarily receive tips. That resulted in employees’ being paid less than minimum wage…a tip pool can’t include managers or other workers, such as chefs or dishwashers, who don’t typically receive tips…The lawsuit requests a jury trial for five counts of Fair Labor Standard Act violations and a count of unjust enrichment. It seeks an unspecified amount in damages that (the attorney) said would ultimately prove “substantial.””

A federal lawsuit filed Monday alleges that Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment, which runs Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse and Jeff Ruby’s Carlo & Johnny, forced employees to share tips with managers and other workers in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The practice allegedly stopped about a year ago, but lawyers for three former employees aim to recoup losses from a two-year period beginning in 2010.

Lawyers Sarah Clay Leyshock and Kristen M. Myers – both of the law firm Beckman Weil Shepardson LLC – filed the class-action suit on behalf of the three former employees as well as anyone else who might step forward in the case. Two of the represented employees worked at Carlo & Johnny in Montgomery while the third worked at the Downtown steakhouse, Leyshock said.

“Under the Fair Labor Standard Act, employees are required to retain their own tips. The one exception is that employees can be required to share their tips in a valid tip pool,” Leyshock said. She said invalid tip pools are fairly common, but still illegal.

For more:  http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130827/NEWS/308270075/Suit-Two-Ruby-eateries-skimmed-tips

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by | August 27, 2013 · 5:56 am

Hospitality Industry Technology Solutions: New Study Shows That Restaurant Employee Theft Can Be “Significantly Reduced” By Surveillance And Sales Transaction Monitoring

“…Knowing they were being monitored, the servers not only pulled back on any unethical practices, but also channeled their efforts into, say, prompting customers to have that dessert or a second beer, raising revenue for the restaurant and tips for themselves… in the restaurant Restaurant Employee Theftindustry, analysts estimate the losses from employee theft at 1 percent of revenue. That does not seem like a lot, but restaurant profit margins are slender, typically 2 to 5 percent. So cutting down on theft can be an important contributor to a restaurant’s financial health…”

And a new research paper, published on Saturday, shows in detail how significant the surveillance effect can be. The paper, “Cleaning House: The Impact of Information Technology Monitoring on Employee Theft and Productivity,” is the work of three academics: Lamar Pierce, an associate professor at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis; Daniel Snow, an associate professor at the Marriott School at Brigham Young University; and Andrew McAfee, a research scientist at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The researchers measured the impact of software that monitors employee-level theft and sales transactions, before and after the technology was installed, at 392 restaurants in 39 states. The restaurants were in five “casual dining” chains. The paper does not name the five,  but it cites examples of the casual dining category including Applebee’s, Chili’s and Olive Garden.

Employee theft and fraud is a big problem, estimated at up to $200 billion a year across the economy.

For more:  http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/26/how-surveillance-changes-behavior-a-restaurant-workers-case-study/?_r=0

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by | August 25, 2013 · 6:13 am

Hospitality Industry Health And Safety: Hotels And Restaurants Avoid Onsite “Automated External Defibrillator (AED)” Placement And Training Due To Concerns About Risks And Liability

“…the American Hotel and Lodging Association, singled out the patchwork of state laws as a major reason hotels in the U.S. “do not uniformly provide training and AEDs onsite,” in a 2009 report.

AED Defibrillator Sign“…across America, there is anything but agreement among states about rules for the use of automated external defibrillators (or AEDs): Where they must be located; if they should be registered so authorities know where they are; whether a business that installs one is fully protected from liability; or even if a company is obliged to use one if someone on the premises suffers sudden cardiac arrest…”

There is no dispute that portable defibrillators, simple-to-use device that supply jolts to shock a stilled heart to beat again, could save tens of thousands of lives a year in this country alone if they are accessible to willing bystanders.

And some experts say the uneven patchwork of laws and regulations is a worrisome barrier to more widespread distribution and use of the battery-powered devices, which, if employed within minutes of cardiac arrest, can bring a person back to life.

For instance, many AEDs still carry labels saying they should only be used by “medical professionals” even though there are laws in every state giving “good Samaritan” protection to anyone who tries to use one to save the life of someone in cardiac arrest.

“The concerns about risk and liability remain very high,” said Richard Lazar, president of Readiness Systems LLC, a Portland, Ore., firm that consults with businesses and governments on AED training and placement.

Mandates for where AEDs should be placed are a national checkerboard. Nineteen states impose no mandates. But, in New York state, AEDs are required in health clubs, while in Florida, they’re mandatory in public high schools. Yet recent court rulings in both states have held that, just because those facilities are required to have the devices, they are under no legal obligation to use them.

For more:  http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2013/aug/25/aed-laws-cause-confusion/

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by | August 24, 2013 · 6:02 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: Restaurants And Hotels Must “Thoroughly And Consistently” Train Employees For Alcohol Service

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http://www.foodbevlaw.com/

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by | August 22, 2013 · 5:59 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: New York Restaurant Sued For $1 Million For “Refusing Service” To Disabled War Veteran Using Service Dog To Ease “Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)”

“…(the plaintiff), who uses the dog to ease his posttraumatic stress disorder, is suing  for $1 million in Manhattan Federal Court. He claims the Hospitality Industry ADA Lawsuitsincident humiliated him and exacerbated his PTSD…(he) said he tried to reason with the employee invoking the Americans with  Disabilities Act (ADA), which permits service animals in public spots…(the plaintiff), who won an undisclosed settlement in 2011 after suing a McDonald’s in  Times Square over a similar experience, said he left the KFC rather than  continue the argument…”

A disabled Iraq War veteran who worked at Ground Zero says the Colonel  treated him like trash. Charles Hernandez, 50, a retired public school administrator, claims he was  refused service at a KFC in the Bronx after he brought his service dog into the  fried chicken joint.

His suit says the KFC worker violated federal, state and city laws and caused  Hernandez distress. The suit also names as defendants KFC manager Sade Clarke,  the restaurant’s owner, Star Partner Enterprises Two LLC, and that company’s  principal owner, Thomas Rose.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/kfc-turns-iraq-war-vet-service-dog-lawsuit-article-1.1432999#ixzz2choApBsK

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