BOSTON MA (April 9, 2014) – Restaurant Worker Files Unpaid Overtime Lawsuit Against Demos Restaurant
A putative collective action was filed in Massachusetts Federal Court against Delegas Brothers, Inc., the owner and operator of “Demos Restaurant” with locations in Waltham and Watertown.
The suit, brought by a former Demos Restaurant employee Rafael Brooks, alleges that the ownership refused to pay overtime in violation of federal law. The litigation also alleges that the failure to furnish overtime is a pattern and company policy that is common to all of the approximately 10 Demos employees, who are all allegedly similarly situated to the single named Plaintiff.
The suit alleges that from 1996 until October 2013, Brooks worked at Demos Restaurant six days a week for ten hours a day. He performed many services for Demos during that time, including cooking, waiting tables, busing tables, preparing food, cleaning, and as a general laborer.
“We allege in the litigation that our client worked nearly sixty (60) hours every week, but was denied pay at an overtime rate of one and one half times his regular rate,” said co-counsel for the Plaintiff, Michael J. Bace, Esq. of Bace Law Group, LLC (www.bacelaw.com). “We also allege that the restaurant’s ownership has a policy of not paying workers their overtime pay that is common to all their employees.”
According to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the Massachusetts Wage Act, the litigation alleges that Brooks is entitled to overtime pay at a rate of one and one half times his regular hourly rate for each hour in excess of 40 hours in a single week.
The litigation alleges that the owners of Demos misclassified Brooks as an independent contractor, paid him in cash, and his pay rate did not increase even though Brooks worked over 50 hours each week for his entire tenure at the restaurant.
The Docket Number and case name is: 1:14-cv-10464, Rafael Brooks v. Delegas Bros. Inc. et al.