On August 7, 2023, Plaintiff Alonzo Baez, on behalf of herself, individually, and on behalf of all others similarly-situated, (collectively as “FSLA Plaintiffs,” and/or “Rule 23 Plaintiffs” as these terms are defined below), by and through her attorneys, BORRELLI & ASSOCIATES, P.L.L.C., as and for her Complaint against MARISCOS RAMIREZ, INC. d/b/a MARISCO CENTRO (“Mariscos Centro”), and ZOLIO RAMIREZ a/k/a CHELO RAMIREZ, individually, (“Ramirez”), and RADAME ABREU a/k/a ROY ABREU, individually (“Abreu”), (together, where appropriate, as “Defendants”), alleges upon knowledge as to herself and her own actions, and upon information and belief as to all other matters, as follows:
Plaintiff worked for Defendants – – a New York corporation that operates a Manhattan restaurant and its two owners and day-to-day overseers – – as a server from in or around October 2021 to May 9, 2023. As described below, throughout Plaintiff’s employment, Defendants willfully failed to pay Plaintiff the minimum wages due under the New York Labor Law (“NYLL”), or the overtime wages due under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and the NYLL, due to the combination of an improperly claimed tip credit and an unlawful automatic meal break deduction policy. Specifically, throughout her employment, Defendants were not permitted to claim a tip credit against Plaintiff’s wages due to Defendants’ failure to provide proper notice of their intention to do so, as well as their requiring Plaintiff to spend more than twenty percent of her shift and/or more than two hours a day performing non-tipped side work. Notwithstanding their ineligibility to claim a tip credit, Defendants did so anyway. Moreover, Defendants automatically deducted thirty minutes each shift from Plaintiff’s worked for a meal break, despite not permitting Plaintiff to take an uninterrupted meal break. As a result, Defendants paid Plaintiff at the tipped minimum wage, which was obviously below the non-tipped minimum wage rate that New York law requires, for all hours that Plaintiff worked, even those hours that she worked in a week over forty, with the exception of the hours that Defendants automatically deducted as breaks, for which Defendants paid Plaintiff nothing. Defendants further violated the NYLL by failing to furnish Plaintiff with an accurate wage statement on each payday or with any wage notice at the time of her hire, let alone an accurate one. Defendants paid and treated all of their non-managerial tipped employees, such as servers, runners, bussers, bartenders, barbacks, delivery persons, and hosts, in this same manner.
Ms. Alonzo Baez has commenced this action not only for herself but also for all her other current and/or former coworkers who were also paid improperly by the Defendants. Therefore, if any individual is or has previously been an employee of the Defendants named in the lawsuit and/or has information that may be relevant to this case, please contact Borrelli & Associates, P.L.L.C. as soon as possible through one of our websites, www.employmentlawyernewyork.com or www.516abogado.com, or any of our phone numbers: (516) 248–5550, (516) ABOGADO, or (212) 679–5000.
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