Daniel Boulud Faces Another Employee Lawsuit Over Tips

Not for the first time, a group of employees have filed a class action lawsuit against Daniel Boulud, claiming he's shorted them on tips. The multi-million dollar suit, filed by attorney Brian Schaffer on behalf of three servers, alleges that they were forced to do non-tipped tasks, like cleaning the bathrooms, for a tipped worker's wage of $5 an hour. Boulud also supposedly made them pool tips with the kitchen staff, and withheld the tips they earned working private events at various restaurants in the Boulud empire. The trio are seeking damages for lost tips and wages going back to 2008.

Boulud has already faced several past lawsuit over similar complaints. In 2011, Maimon Kirschenbaum, the perpetual thorn in the restaurant industry's side, filed a class action suit alleging that Boulud had pooled tips and denied overtime, among other things. In 2012, another busser sued over exactly the same things, and the Post also reports that Schaffer just won a settlement for 88 other Boulud employees on Monday. Boulud's team tells Eater that the chef has no comment on the current suit.
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