Capsolas v. Pasta Resources

In 2012, Outten & Golden secured a $5.25 million settlement for workers at restaurants owned by Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich.

The lawsuit sought to recover minimum wages, overtime, misappropriated tips, and spread-of-hours pay for Plaintiffs and their similarly situated co-workers – hourly food service workers who work or worked at the critically acclaimed New York restaurants owned by Mr. Batali and Mr. Bastianich.

The complaint alleged, among other things, that Mr. Batali, Mr. Bastianich, and their restaurants unlawfully confiscated a portion of their workers’ tips in order to supplement their own profits. Specifically, it alleged, at the end of every shift, instead of distributing customers’ credit card tips to the workers who earned them as the law requires, Mr. Batali, Mr. Bastianich, and their restaurants took from the tip pool an amount equal to approximately 4% or 4.5% of the restaurants’ wine sales (and sometimes other beverage sales) for the night and put it in their own pockets.

In February 2012, the parties settled the case for $5.25 million.