Cheesecake Factory Accused of Underpaying Its Tipped Workers

The Cheesecake Factory was hit with a proposed federal class action by two servers at restaurants in Maryland who accused the chain of violating federal and state wage laws by failing to properly pay the minimum wage to tipped employees.

Jason Kirkpatrick and Alexiya Esparza’s complaint, filed Thursday, argues that the restaurant failed to provide proper notice to servers and bartenders of its intent to take a tip credit—which allows employers to pay less than the minimum wage when workers earn tips from customers.

The Cheesecake Factory also required employees to perform excessive amounts of non-tipped work while still taking ...