Frequently Asked Questions

Our investigation involves persons working in the banquet industry in the last six years who were improperly denied gratuities that were automatically added to customers’ bills as service or administrative charges. Therefore, if you are a current or former banquet service employee and your employer automatically added gratuities to customers’ bills as service or administrative charges, and your employer including management, retained any portion of it, then you qualify to participate in this investigation.

Additionally, you can contact us so we can learn more about your employment situation and discuss any possible claims that you may have against your employer. There is no charge or obligation for contacting us and we will not disclose to your employer any information that you provide to our legal team. However, no formal attorney-client relationship with us will be created by contacting us to discuss your claims.

Contacting us to discuss your situation does not automatically qualify you to participate in any lawsuit that may be filed. If we file a lawsuit against your employer, you will not be a plaintiff in that lawsuit until you sign a retainer agreement or a class action is certified. Any communications with us will be kept confidential. Additionally, our formal representation of you at that time would cover only those wage claims that are included in the Complaint filed with the Court.

You have the right to seek other legal counsel to represent you. Choosing a lawyer is an important decision and you should select a lawyer to represent you who you feel can best protect your interests. Please contact us if you have any questions.

To determine whether you are eligible to collect unpaid wages, please fill out this information sheet and return it to our office. Our team will review that information sheet at no charge.
As part of our team’s review process we will not:

• Disclose your name to your employer;
• Charge you any fee; or
• Seek damages on your behalf.

Click here for important information about our potential representation of you.

Our attorney-client relationship starts if you become a client of the firm by signing a retainer agreement to pursue these claims. It can also begin if the court certifies a class action lawsuit based on these claims. Even though a formal attorney-client relationship does not start until a retainer agreement is signed, communications with us relating to information or advice concerning your possible claims against your employer will be kept confidential, including any information provided to us in your information sheet.

Contacting us to discuss your situation does not automatically qualify you to participate in any lawsuit that may be filed. Right now we are only investigating the claims and speaking with people to gather additional information. Your communications with our office will be confidential. If we file a lawsuit, there will be representative plaintiffs who will bring the claims as a class action and they will enter into a retainer agreement with our office. Other employees who are not named plaintiffs become class members if the case is certified as a class action.

Yes. Rules called the statutes of limitations may limit the time for which back wages may be recovered, which ultimately reduces the amount of recoverable back wages. If a lawsuit is filed, and you are awarded money under state law, you will likely be able to collect wages six years from the date the lawsuit has been commenced.

Therefore, should you decide to participate in this investigation, we encourage you to contact us as soon as possible. If you want to find out what, if anything, you may be owed, you should contact our legal team at once and submit a completed information sheet. Contacting us or submitting any documents, including an Information Sheet, will not form an attorney-client relationship. However, all communications with us about your situation will be kept confidential.

However, if you feel that your potential claims against your employer require the immediate filing of a lawsuit, or that you may have claims other than or in addition to the wage and hour claims discussed here, then we encourage you to retain another attorney now to avoid losing those claims as a result of any statute of limitations or other deadline that may extinguish any of your claims or lessen any damages to which you could be entitled.

Our investigation into the banquet industry has revealed that often banquet service employees are owed wages under state law. Specifically, employers often improperly retained some or all of the gratuities automatically added to clients’ bills as service or administrative charges. Often, this means banquet service employees are owed those gratuities that were kept by their employer.

Sometimes employers also fail to comply with the federal law governing overtime, known as the Fair Labor Standards Act. If such claims are pursued by our firm, you may need to complete an additional form. If you have any questions about these claims, you should contact our legal team at once as statute of limitations or deadlines exist that may extinguish any of your claims or lessen any damages to which you may be entitled.

In order to file a lawsuit, there must be a person (or group of persons) willing to take on the role of a representative plaintiff. This person represents that his or her claims are similar to a group of people, in this case other banquet service employees who were improperly denied gratuities which were automatically added to customers’ bills. If no one is willing to enter into a retainer agreement and become a representative plaintiff, we are unable to file a lawsuit.

If we file a lawsuit, and the court agrees with us that a group of people have similar claims to the representative plaintiff, then a class action is certified and everyone in that class is included unless they chose not to be.

Through the course of our investigation into the banquet industry, we believe employers often improperly retain some or all of the gratuities automatically added to clients’ bills as service or administrative charges that should be going to the banquet servers, bartenders and captains.

That does not matter – you still need to be paid properly. The regulations require that any charge for the administration of a banquet must be clearly identified as such so that customers are notified that the charge is not a gratuity or tip.

Click here for important information about our potential representation of you.

At this time, we have nine pending class action lawsuits involving the following locations: Niagara Falls Conference Center, Michael’s Banquet Facility, Banchetti by Rizzo’s, Acqua Restaurant and Catering and Orchard Park Country Club in the Buffalo, New York area, Woodcliff Hotel & Spa, Rochester Convention Center Management Corporation and Rochester Plaza in the Rochester, New York area and Harbor Links Golf Course on Long Island.

We are currently investigating the pay practices of other banquet locations throughout New York. We would like to learn more about your employment history as a banquet service employee. Any communications with us will be protected and confidential.

No. If you would like to talk to one of our attorneys handling the lawsuit, at no charge or obligation to you, then, please contact us. We will not share any information from you with anyone else, including your employer. If we enter into a retainer agreement with you and commence a lawsuit against your employer, then at that time your employer may know you are making a claim. However, your employer is not permitted by law to take any adverse employment action against you because you participated in this investigation or possible lawsuit.

No. There is absolutely no cost to you to participate in this investigation or to discuss your situation and possible claims with us.

You will also not be charged any money upfront to participate in any lawsuit we may ultimately file. Any legal fees would be dependent on the outcome of the lawsuit, if one is filed. If a lawsuit is filed and money damages or other benefits are awarded to the employees, then we will ask the Court to award us our legal fees and expenses. Typically, if a case settles, a portion of any settlement is approved by the Court to be paid to us to cover our attorneys’ fees. Costs of the lawsuit are also typically paid out of the settlement fund. In the case that any lawsuit goes to trial, we would ask the Court to award to us our fees and costs from the damages determined by a final verdict. In no case would you be asked to spend your own money for attorney fees or costs. You won’t have to pay these fees and expenses out-of-pocket. If the Court grants the lawyers’ request, the fees and expenses would be either deducted from any money obtained for the class or paid separately by your employer. To the extent fees and costs are paid from a settlement fund, the class members’ share of the fund would be reduced.

If money damages or benefits are obtained as a result of a settlement or trial, then if you are eligible to receive a portion of those money damages or benefits, you would be notified about how to participate. We do not know how long such a process would take.

Yes. It’s important and helpful to our legal team that all current and former banquet service employees learn about this investigation as soon as possible because of the deadlines that may apply to any owed back wages.

Please let anyone else who might be interested in investigation or possible lawsuit know about it so that they do not lose the opportunity to receive unpaid wages.

It would take a detailed calculation based on the facts of your case to determine how much you would be owed in back wages. Our team can provide an estimate to you if you contact us.

However, the amounts can be significant. You could be entitled to some or all of the following:

1. The gratuities retained by your employer which would be divided amongst those banquet service employees working that event;
2. doubling of that amount; and
3. your attorneys’ fees paid.

Click here for important information about our potential representation of you.

Our attorney-client relationship with you will start only if we enter into a retainer agreement with you. Even though a formal attorney-client relationship does not start until that time, communications with us relating to information or advice concerning your possible claims against your employer will be kept confidential, including any information provided to us in your information sheet.

Contacting us to discuss your situation does not automatically qualify you to participate in any lawsuit that may be filed.

Please also keep in mind that important deadlines are passing daily that could reduce your recovery. Additionally, you may have claims that are not included in the information you provide to us, or are not the types of legal claims that we would handle. Therefore, we encourage you to retain another attorney now if you want to investigate any claims you may have. Remember, if you anticipate participating in any lawsuit against your employer, then you must save and preserve all documents and electronic files related to your employment. You have the right to seek other legal counsel to represent you. Choosing a lawyer is an important decision and you should select a lawyer to represent you who you feel can best protect your interests. Please contact us if you have any questions at 1-877-272-4066.