U.S. Supreme Court refuses to here Applebee’s challenge

WASHINGTON – January 17, 2012 (www.hospitalitybusinessnews.com) The Wallstreet Journal is reporting that the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to consider Applebee's International Inc.'s challenge to a lawsuit by more than 5,500 bartenders and servers who alleged the restaurant chain underpaid them.

The suit brought by Applebee’s employees centers around the minimum wage and the “tip credit”. U.S. Federal labor law allows a restaurant to pay tipped employees less than the minimum wage as long as the tips that the employee receives makes up the difference between the two.

The plaintiffs argued, in the suit, that they spent an excessive amount of time on “non-tip earning duties” such as set up, preparation and cleaning. Because they did not earn any tips while performing these duties they claim that Applebee’s should have paid them the full minimum wage.

Applebee’s said that since the duties were part of the employees normal job they were permitted to pay the lower rate.

The Wallstreet journal stated that the “lower federal courts in Missouri ruled that the lawsuit could proceed, deferring to a 1988 Labor Department handbook that said tipped workers were entitled to the full minimum wage for their non-tip-producing duties if they spent more than 20% of their time on such work.”