Santos, the former bartender who initiated the lawsuit against Agave & Rye back in May, asserted that the chain had violated minimum wage regulations. Her argument was centered around the alleged misuse of the tip credit system, which, according to her, rendered them ineligible for the tipped minimum wage rate under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The Complex Allegations
Santos contended that Agave & Rye failed to pay their employees the rightful minimum wage, exploiting a legal loophole despite the chain’s ineligibility for the tipped minimum wage rate. Their ineligibility stemmed from the requirement that servers perform significant amounts of untipped “side work.” Furthermore, bartenders were often assigned these non-tipped duties when required to work as servers. Santos had passionately emphasized these concerns in her initial complaint.
In a puzzling legal maneuver, Santos had alleged not just one but two wage violations: one under the Fair Labor Standards Act and another under the Ohio Constitution. Her grand ambition was to lead a nationwide class action on behalf of current and former bartenders and servers who had worked at Agave & Rye in the past three years, receiving compensation at the tipped minimum wage rate. Notably, Agave & Rye operates not only in Ohio but also in Kentucky, Indiana, Alabama, and Tennessee. Santos had also sought to establish an Ohio subclass within this overarching class action.
