Texas de Brazil Lawsuit; The Beef Starts Here!

The Law Firm of Lowell J. Kuvin, Miami, and Morgan & Morgan, Orlando have filed a lawsuit against Texas de Brazil, a national restaurant chain with seven locations in Florida. The lawsuit was certified as a “collective action” by the federal court in February and includes six of the seven locations.

The lawsuit alleges Texas de Brazil did not pay servers and bartenders the correct minimum wage because the employees were required to pay for their uniforms, contrary to established federal laws (Department of Labor & Fair Labor Standards Act). Also alleged in the complaint is that Texas de Brazil did not properly pay service staff for all of their overtime hours and that the tip pool scheme was contrary to federal laws. Plaintiffs are seeking damages which include but are not limited to a refund of the entire tip credit of $3.02 for every hour they worked as well as tips illegally paid into the pool.

“Now is the time to join the lawsuit” said attorney Lowell J. Kuvin who represents the Plaintiffs along with Carlos Leach of Morgan & Morgan in Orlando. Mr. Kuvin worked in the hospitality service industry for more than 25 years before he decided to go to law school. “In my opinion, restaurants such as Texas de Brazil try to pass on the daily expenses of uniforms to service staff in order to pad the bottom line of profits” said Mr. Kuvin. “I understand why they do so because the restaurant business is very competitive and really is a game of pennies. However, when restaurants are paying their service staff the bare minimum allowed under Florida law, they need to follow the entire law and that means they need to absorb the cost of uniforms and other tools of trade servers are required to purchase.”

Another lawsuit/class action was filed recently by Mr. Leach and Mr. Kuvin. The second lawsuit alleges the tip pool was violated because servers were forced to share their tips with Carvers and the Carver Leader. "The motion to certify the class has been filed," said Mr. Kuvin, and will be set for a hearing as soon as is possible. "After speaking with our clients from the first lawsuit, we feel the class has a very good chance of getting certified in the state of Florida. If we discover the class extends to other restaurants outside of the state, we will initiate other class action lawsuits in those states as well."

For more information about the lawsuits you can visit http://www.texasdebrazilsuit.com or call Mr. Kuvin at 305.358.6800 during normal working hours (10 am to 8 pm) weekdays. You can reach Carlos Leech at his office at 407.420.1414.

For more information on restaurant laws in Florida you can visit http://www.floridarestaurantlaw.com or call the Law Office of Lowell J. Kuvin, LLC at 305.358.6800 – lowell@kuvinlaw.com – emails are also welcome.