New York State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer is taking on New York City?s high-end restaurants and clubs, charging that many of their valets and attendants are not paid any wages and often require them to hand over a large share of their tips. Yesterday Mr. Spitzer announced that they reached a $175,000 back pay settlement with Tavern on the Green and that he is suing the Royal Flush Bathroom Attendants of Manhattan for $4 million. He claims the company often paid no wages and required twenty-five percent of their tips, labeling them lease fees.
See "Spitzer in Effort to Get Wages for Valets", Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times, October 7, 2004