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Longtime Texas restaurant Gloria’s Latin Cuisine is facing a lawsuit from one of its former workers who alleges the restaurant failed to pay minimum wage to tipped employees.
On July 14, 2023, Dayana Garcia, a former employee at Gloria’s Las Colinas, sued Gloria’s Restaurant Las Colinas LLC, Nancy Fuentes Fairview Inc., Fuentes Restaurant Management Services Inc., and Gloria’s co-founder Jose Fuentes. In the class action suit, Garcia is suing on behalf of herself and all tipped workers who received less than minimum wage at all Gloria’s restaurants in the past three years.
Gloria’s is a Salvadoran and Tex-Mex restaurant that opened in Oak Cliff in 1986 and now has 23 Texas locations.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court Northern District of Texas (Dallas), and Garcia has requested that the matter be resolved in a jury trial. Garcia is asking to be paid the difference between her wages ($2.13 per hour) and the minimum wage in Texas ($7.25 per hour) for each hour she worked, and double that amount in damages.
Garcia alleges in the lawsuit that she was assigned to do nontipped work unrelated to serving tables while being paid the Texas hourly wage of $2.13 per hour for tipped workers.
Garcia, who declined to be interviewed by The Dallas Morning News, is represented by Fort Worth-based law firm Herrmann Law. The lawsuit states that Garcia and other servers had other duties like “sweeping, cleaning, polishing silverware and glasses, cleaning ledges, cleaning the restaurant, kitchen duties, breaking down stations, garnish, drink stations, restocking items, and many other activities that are not related to their tipped occupation as servers.”
The lawsuit also states that these workers were required to perform different activities before opening and after closing of the restaurant, earning the same wage of $2.13 per hour.
The U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act permits an employer to take a “tip credit” toward its minimum-wage tipped employees, but the employer must ensure that the employee receives enough tips to equal the minimum hourly wage of $7.25. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, if an employee’s tips combined with the employer’s wages do not equal $7.25 per hour in each workweek, the employer must make up the difference.
According to the lawsuit, Gloria’s Restaurant did not comply with the tip credit requirements of an employer.
“Restaurant workers are some of the most financially vulnerable people in the workforce, and lawsuits like this one aim to ensure that restaurants and employers comply with the federal wage laws and not take advantage of low-wage workers,” Drew Herrmann, attorney for the plaintiff, told The News.
The lawsuit also accuses the restaurant of “unlawful kickbacks,” in which workers were required to contribute to a tip pool each shift as well as to pay for things necessary to perform their jobs, such as uniforms, pens and other supplies.
In their answer to the lawsuit, filed on Aug 10, 2023, representatives of Gloria’s Restaurant Las Colinas admitted that the plaintiff “sometimes performed side work. Whether and the extent to which servers performed side work varied depending on, among other things, the location, time period, and shift worked,” but they deny that the plaintiff is “entitled to any alleged unpaid compensation.”
The company also denies that the workers had to pay for supplies.
Representatives of Gloria’s Latin Cuisine and their attorneys from firm Greenberg Traurig did not respond to a request for comment from The News.
Longtime Texas restaurant Gloria’s Latin Cuisine is facing a lawsuit from one of its former workers who alleges the restaurant failed to pay minimum wage to tipped employees.
On July 14, 2023, Dayana Garcia, a former employee at Gloria’s Las Colinas, sued Gloria’s Restaurant Las Colinas LLC, Nancy Fuentes Fairview Inc., Fuentes Restaurant Management Services Inc., and Gloria’s co-founder Jose Fuentes. In the class action suit, Garcia is suing on behalf of herself and all tipped workers who received less than minimum wage at all Gloria’s restaurants in the past three years.
Gloria’s is a Salvadoran and Tex-Mex restaurant that opened in Oak Cliff in 1986 and now has 23 Texas locations.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court Northern District of Texas (Dallas), and Garcia has requested that the matter be resolved in a jury trial. Garcia is asking to be paid the difference between her wages ($2.13 per hour) and the minimum wage in Texas ($7.25 per hour) for each hour she worked, and double that amount in damages.
Garcia alleges in the lawsuit that she was assigned to do nontipped work unrelated to serving tables while being paid the Texas hourly wage of $2.13 per hour for tipped workers.
Garcia, who declined to be interviewed by The Dallas Morning News, is represented by Fort Worth-based law firm Herrmann Law. The lawsuit states that Garcia and other servers had other duties like “sweeping, cleaning, polishing silverware and glasses, cleaning ledges, cleaning the restaurant, kitchen duties, breaking down stations, garnish, drink stations, restocking items, and many other activities that are not related to their tipped occupation as servers.”
The lawsuit also states that these workers were required to perform different activities before opening and after closing of the restaurant, earning the same wage of $2.13 per hour.
The U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act permits an employer to take a “tip credit” toward its minimum-wage tipped employees, but the employer must ensure that the employee receives enough tips to equal the minimum hourly wage of $7.25. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, if an employee’s tips combined with the employer’s wages do not equal $7.25 per hour in each workweek, the employer must make up the difference.
According to the lawsuit, Gloria’s Restaurant did not comply with the tip credit requirements of an employer.
“Restaurant workers are some of the most financially vulnerable people in the workforce, and lawsuits like this one aim to ensure that restaurants and employers comply with the federal wage laws and not take advantage of low-wage workers,” Drew Herrmann, attorney for the plaintiff, told The News.
The lawsuit also accuses the restaurant of “unlawful kickbacks,” in which workers were required to contribute to a tip pool each shift as well as to pay for things necessary to perform their jobs, such as uniforms, pens and other supplies.
In their answer to the lawsuit, filed on Aug 10, 2023, representatives of Gloria’s Restaurant Las Colinas admitted that the plaintiff “sometimes performed side work. Whether and the extent to which servers performed side work varied depending on, among other things, the location, time period, and shift worked,” but they deny that the plaintiff is “entitled to any alleged unpaid compensation.”
The company also denies that the workers had to pay for supplies.
Representatives of Gloria’s Latin Cuisine and their attorneys from firm Greenberg Traurig did not respond to a request for comment from The News.
Former employee sues Gloria’s Latin Cuisine for failure to pay minimum wage
A former server says workers performed non-tipped labor and were not compensated.
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