Charlene Craig, a waitress at the Ruby Tuesday on Highway 153 in Hixson, has brought a class-action lawsuit that alleges the chain restaurant underpays its servers and bartenders for “side work” and has a corporate culture that encourages them to work off the clock.
Craig and other employees at Ruby Tuesday’s 658 restaurants in 44 states were made to do side work, such as cutting lemons, filling ice bins and rolling silverware, while only being paid a server’s wage of as little as $2.13 an hour – and not earning any tips, said a lawsuit filed Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Chattanooga.
Under federal regulations, servers and bartenders can spend up to 20 percent of their time doing non-tipped side work – but must be paid at least $7.25 per hour after that, said lawyer Chris Hall, of Hall & Lampros in Atlanta, which filed the class-action suit with Trief and Olk, a New York City law firm.
“She’s doing a whole lot of side work,” Hall said. “It’s over 20 percent.”
Ruby Tuesday restaurants are centrally controlled from the chain’s headquarters in Maryville, Tenn., the lawsuit says, and the company’s policies and practices encourage servers and bartenders to work off the clock without pay.