Sum covers allegations that employers 'kept tips to themselves'
The California Labor Commissioner’s Office has reached a $2.2 million settlement securing unpaid wages for hundreds of Bay Area restaurant workers.
Based on the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) media release, the settlement came after owners of three Saravanaa Bhavan restaurant franchises in Fremont, Milpitas and Sunnyvale underpaid several of its employees.
“The settlement secures compensation to 317 employees at the three restaurant locations for unpaid minimum wage, overtime, meal premiums, split shift premiums, and inaccurate wage statements,” the government said.
Reasons for the settlement
The government reported that the settlement originated from an investigation by the Labor Commissioner’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) Unit in which they found Labor Code breaches affecting the 317 employees.
The affected workers include hosts, bussers, servers, cooks, and kitchen staff employed at the three restaurants between Feb. 23, 2016, and Sept. 8, 2019. Among the critical allegations covered by the settlement were the tips employers have kept, which were supposedly given to the workers.
“Under California law, tips are the sole property of those employees to or for whom they were paid, given, or left,” the DIR noted.
It further said that the PAGA Unit issued a citation for wages and penalties on Oct.18, 2019, amounting to $6,108,099 to “Spice Route, LLC, Southern Spice, LLC and Supreme Cuisine, LLC...
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