Over the weekend, Longbranch Cafe got hit with a lawsuit by the Department of Labor, alleging that management improperly withheld tips to pool and pay out to all employees and then paid overtime based on non-tipped wages. Federal law allows restaurants to pay servers a reduced wage under the expectation that the employee will make up the difference in tips, meaning, of course, that customers directly pay part of the employee's wages. I have read a number of complaints about pay and working conditions at Longbranch for the past year so interesting to see someone filing a claim against the business.
Much more lies beneath the surface. Time for the DE to do some good investigative journalism, perhaps?
ReplyDeleteI remember how badly the DE got burned in the 1990s when it did some investigative journalism about underage drinking in bars. Afterwards, the local bars, which were the DE's biggest advertisers, pull their advertising for years.
ReplyDeleteThe situation has now changed both for the DE and certain Carbondale businesses. Economic blackmail should not prevent any type of investigative journalism involving breaking the law whether underage drinking or scratching beneath the surface. The public, let alone parents of prospective students, have a right to know, especially if certain businesses do not clean up their act.
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