One Fair Wage Sues Darden Restaurants
Advocacy group One Fair Wage is suing Olive Garden parent Darden Restaurants, alleging the company’s tipping policy encourages sexual harassment and racial discrimination against its waitstaff. The complaint, was filed in California federal court, is the latest case in the battle against the tipped minimum wage. Currently in 43 states, employers can pay their workers as little as $2.13 an hour as long as that hourly wage and tips add up to the locality’s pay floor. Otherwise, the employer has to make up the difference. The complaint asserts that servers who are paid less than the minimum wage experience more sexual harassment than waitstaff who work in localities that require Darden to pay them the minimum wage, based on a recent survey completed by One Fair Wage.
See "One Fair Wage Sues Darden Restaurants", Amelia Lucas, CNBC News , April 19, 2021