Did Fired Florida Bartender Work for Four Cents an Hour?

Coral gables, FLAccording to the Miami New Times on 9/16/10, there are some fairly high-end establishments that have been accused of violating Florida labor law.


Angela Suarez (not her real name) illustrates the problem. For one week when she claims to have worked 60 hours, her paycheck reflected only 38. Suarez told the Miami New Times that she was able to log in to a program that tracked employee hours and confirmed her employer had cheated her out of 22 hours.

Suarez took her former employer to court and reached a settlement, although the establishment—DeVito, a restaurant located on Ocean Drive in the South Beach area of Miami and co-owned by famed actor and director Danny DeVito—says the allegations are without merit.

"None of these few ex-employees reported any discrepancy to our offices at any time prior to making a legal claim," says David Manero, who owns the eatery with DeVito. "We stand by our hourly timekeeping system, which is industry standard."

The ex-employees Manero references reportedly number 11. All have sued DeVito for Florida labor law violations in the last year pertaining to the non-payment of wages and tips. All reached confidential settlements with the establishment. Suarez alleged that part of her tips were siphoned off to a sommelier.

"Wage violations are a regular and recurring type of complaint that we get," says Will Garnitz, district director for the US Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division. He says his South Florida office caught scores of restaurants and bars in the Miami area shortchanging employees out of more than $750,000 in unpaid wages last year.

Another alleged violation of Florida employment law happened to a bartender who formerly worked for a nautical-themed eatery in Coral Gables. According to the Miami New Times, managers were alleged to have doctored the man's pay to hide overtime hours. The 50-year-old bartender was subsequently let go and replaced by two younger women. He filed an age discrimination lawsuit, as well as a claim for $7,000 in unpaid wages.

It was reported that the man was sent a check in the amount of $137.12—apparently to cover 1,212 hours worked at 4 cents per hour, in addition to $99.99 for an unspecified reason.

Among other Florida employment labor cases hitting the courts was that of former servers Dean Mitchell and Yasuko Mitchell, who sued Sushi Samba of Miami Beach in November 2008 for unpaid wages and tip skimming. The duo settled out of court for an unspecified sum, but not before a court in Miami-Dade awarded them nearly $55,000. That award was vacated after the two settled with the owner.

"Miami is one of the most challenging places for enforcing federal wage law," Garnitz says. "Because this is an immigrant community, a lot of employers are confused about the law or have a different attitude about it."

Regardless, Garnitz says, many Miami employers pay their staff completely in tips, keep part of those tips, or simply don't pay employees for their hours—all of which are violations of Florida state labor laws.