January 18th, 2011 
davidguide Orlando, FL, United States (AHN) – Two Hard Rock employees who worked in the Hard Rock Cafe at Universal Studios in Orlando have filed a class action lawsuit for the company’s alleged failure to pay minimum wages that were required under Florida law.
The Orlando Hard Rock Cafe is the largest Hard Rock Cafe in the world.
The complaint alleges that Hard Rock’s servers and bartenders were paid less than minimum wage during the period Jan. 14, 2006, until approximately July 2009. The complaint charges that Hard Rock attempted to pay the servers and bartenders less than minimum wages while taking a tip credit that is allowable under Florida and federal law only when the servers and bartenders are allowed to retain all of their tips or where a legal tip pooling arrangement is instituted among employees “who customarily and regularly receive tips.”
The complaint alleges that servers and bartenders improperly shared their tips with individuals who were employed as expediters. Expediters at the Orlando Hard Rock Cafe are not customarily and regularly tipped employees; instead, they are kitchen employees who are responsible for ensuring food is prepared and garnished properly.
According to lawyers for the employees, Hard Rock was not entitled to the tip credit because servers and bartenders did not retain all their tips and paid a portion of their tips to expediters.
Hillary Schwab, Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C., Boston, Massachusetts, the firm handling the suit, said, “In this economy, servers and bartenders need all the tips they can get. Hard Rock should have known that a tip sharing arrangement that included kitchen staff violated Florida and federal law.”
The Florida Constitution states “[a]ll working Floridians are entitled to be paid a minimum wage that is sufficient to provide a decent and healthy life for them and their families.”
Florida’s minimum wage provision has garnered headlines recently because the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation was sued for allegedly improperly calculating the minimum wage under Florida law.
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