Sushi Yasuda Agrees to Pay $2M in Tipping Lawsuit

In a recent settlement, Sushi Yasuda agreed to pay $2.4 million to current and former employees who filed a class action lawsuit over withheld tips and unpaid overtime. The restaurant notably stopped accepting tips altogether last summer, with the explanation that, "Following the custom in Japan, Sushi Yasuda's service staff are fully compensated by their salary." But the suit covers the period immediately before that decision, from December of 2006 to May of 2013, when staff members claim they were required to hand over their "several hundreds of dollars" in tips to a shift manager every night. They also claim that they were not paid properly for training shifts or overtime.

The Yasuda team says that these allegations are false, and co-owner Scott Rosenberg tells Law 360 that the settlement was "intended to correct a technical issue." He also adds that the decision to eliminate tipping and raise prices last year was simply a way to "continue with our longstanding and uninterrupted practice of paying our staff a stable and good wage."
· Sushi Yasuda to Pay $2M to Settle Wage Claims [Law 360 via First We Feast]
· All Coverage of Sushi Yasuda [~ENY~][Photo]