Class Actions Involving Banquet Service Companies & Hotels
Several states, including New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, have banquet service employee rights laws directing when mandatory service charges must be paid to service workers as tips. Many employers are not in compliance with these laws; as a result, banquet service workers are entitled to money.
Thomas & Solomon, LLP, is a highly regarded collective action litigation law firm based in Rochester, New York. Our class action lawyers routinely fight for banquet service employee rights, particularly in matters relating to wage and hour claims and service charge fees.
Current Class Actions and Investigations
New York
If you worked as a banquet service employee in New York State in the last six years and were not paid service charges, administrative fees or similar mandatory charges automatically added to customers’ bills for banquet events, you may be entitled to money. Under New York law, if an employer leads a banquet customer to believe that the contract price includes a fixed percentage, such as a service charge or administrative fee, as a gratuity, then the fixed percentage must be paid in its entirety to the banquet service staff who worked the event.
Thomas & Solomon LLP has already filed many class actions on behalf of banquet service employees in New York State and achieved settlements resulting in substantial payments to banquet service workers, including a recent settlement in excess of a million dollars. We are continuing to investigate and file new class actions on behalf of banquet servers in New York. To learn more about our Banquet Service Employee Class Actions & Investigations click here.
Massachusetts
Massachusetts has a tip law similar to New York law which governs the distributions of service charges. If you worked as a banquet service employee in Massachusetts in the last three years and were not paid service charges billed to customers, you may be entitled to money. To learn more about our Banquet Service Employee Rights Investigations click here.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania law with respect to tipped employees provides that a gratuity added to the charge made by the establishment, either by management or the customer, “shall become the property of the employee.” Philadelphia also has a Gratuity Protection Bill which applies to employees working in Philadelphia. If you worked as a service employee in Pennsylvania in the last three years and were not paid service charges billed to customers, you may be entitled to money. To learn more about our Banquet Service Employee Rights Investigations click here.
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