Roberta's Kitchen Staffer Slaps Restaurant With Lawsuit Alleging Unpaid Overtime

A kitchen staffer at Bushwick trailblazer Roberta's is suing the restaurant for back-wages. Ruffino Cano, who has worked at Roberta's cleaning dishes and making the restaurant's pizza dough since 2009, alleges that he wasn't paid properly for overtime. According to the class action suit:

For his work, despite working over 40 hours per week, he is paid at straight-time rates for all hours worked including hours over 40...[and] When plaintiff complained to his supervisors...he was told that he is not entitled to overtime because he works 'off the books.

Cano's lawyer told the Daily News: "We think a large number of employees were paid off the books until 2013." There's no word on what damages Cano is seeking beyond his back wages.

This suit isn't the only legal woe the restaurant has had to deal with this year. Back in February, the three then-owners Brandon Hoy, Carlo Mirarchi, and Chris Parachini, went through a battle over ownership of the restaurant and the Roberta's brand. Hoy and Mirarchi offered Parachini $2 million for his share in the company, but Parachin said it was worth $2.9 million, plus another $2.5 million in intellectual property. The trio was due in court this spring, but have managed to keep things tightly under wraps.