Hard Rock Cafe in Minimum Wage Class Action Suit

The world's largest Hard Rock Cafe at Universal Studios in Orlando, Fla., is not even doing the minimum for some of its servers and bartenders, according to two workers who filed a class action lawsuit. They claim the Hard Rock failed to pay minimum wages required under Florida law. It is likely that more employees will join in the suit.

The complaint alleges that Hard Rock's servers and bartenders were paid less than minimum wage between Jan. 14, 2006 and approximately July 2009.

The complaint asserts that Hard Rock attempted to pay the servers and bartenders less than minimum wages while taking a tip credit allowable (in certain cases) under Florida and federal law. It seems that the law is designed to allow for the credit only in cases where the servers and bartenders either are allowed to retain all of their tips, or pool their tips exclusively with other tipped employees.