The United States Department of Labor Thursday announced it had filed a lawsuit against a Grand Rapids-area-restaurant after learning its owner stole tips from employees and failed to pay wages.
According to the US Department of Labor, investigators “found the owner of the Saucy Crab restaurant” on 28th Street in Grand Rapids, “abused the rights of their employees by illegally taking tips from customers intended for servers and bartenders” while denying “servers, cooks and dishwashers their fully earned wages.”
The department says the owner of the Saucy Crab owes over $75 thousand in back wages to 26 workers after investigators found the company violated provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Department Spokesperson Scott Allen.
“The Department of Labor will fight to protect the rights of restaurant industry workers who, in addition to being among the nation’s lowest paid people, may be vulnerable to wage theft because they might not know their rights and protections or be reluctant to exercise them,” Allen said.
In addition, the Department says the owner of the Saucy Crab made illegal deductions from servers’ pay for uniforms, aprons, name tags, and penalized their paychecks if waiters lost restaurant owned items like scissors and oyster forks.
The owner’s behavior extended to the kitchen as well, where cooks were not given overtime pay, while one cook never received a paycheck.
The department said however, it does not have the authority to shut the business down. The Saucy Crab is a national chain restaurant with individual franchisee owners at each location.
