Dovetail Lawsuit

Stamped Complaint – Monzon v. 103W77 Partners, LLC, et al 13 cv 5951 (AT)

On August 23, 2013, Roldan Monzon (“Plaintiff”) filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court (S.D.N.Y.) on behalf of himself and similarly situated “tipped workers” that worked at Dovetail Restaurant (“Dovetail”), alleging that Dovetail unlawfully violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and the New York Labor Law (“NYLL”). Plaintiff is seeking to recover damages resulting from Dovetail’s failure to pay its employees the proper minimum wages, earned tips, overtime earnings, spread of hours pay, and uniform-related expenses.

Dovetail is owned, operated and controlled by 103W77 Partners, LLC, Smokin’ JFraser Inc, and founder and Executive Chef, John Fraser (collectively, “Defendants”). Since opening in 2007, Dovetail has served as an Upper West Side staple, serving contemporary American cuisine using seasonal, farm-fresh ingredients.

The Plaintiff has been employed by Defendants as a busser/runner from August 2008 through the present. According to Plaintiff, Defendants routinely fail to properly compensate its service employees by unlawfully paying them a reduced, tip-credit minimum wage while simultaneously requiring tipped workers to engage in a tip distribution scheme whereby tips are shared with assistant managers, polishers, and expediters – employees that are not entitled to tips under the FLSA or the NYLL. As a result of Defendants’ failure to distribute tips to tipped workers as required by law, Plaintiff seeks to recover the full minimum wage rate for all hours worked up to 40 per workweek (currently $7.25 per hour), and premium overtime pay of time-and-one-half the full minimum wage rate for all hours worked in excess of 40 per workweek (currently $10.88 per hour). Plaintiff also claims that Dovetail has not provided tipped workers with “spread-of-hours pay,” or an additional hour’s pay at minimum wage for workdays spanning longer than 10 hours. Finally, Plaintiff alleges that Defendants failed to pay uniform-related expenses as required by the NYLL.

Should the Court agree with these claims, the Defendants will have violated the FLSA and NYLL and, as a result, owe lost wages to the Plaintiff.

The restaurant industry is one of the biggest violators of the FLSA and NYLL. Thus, anyone who has worked at a restaurant as a server, busser, runner, bartender, host, or any other tipped position, during the past six years may have a wage claim. Please contact the New York City employment lawyers at Fitapelli & Schaffer, (212) 300-0375, to schedule a free consultation so that we can discuss your rights under the FLSA and NYLL.

Current and former employees working at Dovetail who have questions about the lawsuit should contact Fitapelli & Schaffer at (212) 300-0375.