Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment is settling a class-action lawsuit from former employees who say they were not paid tips they earned.
The Cincinnati-based luxury restaurant group will pay $1.55 million toward a settlement fund available to more than 700 servers, bartenders and server assistants, according to a mid-December filing in federal court in Nashville.
Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment is settling the suit without admitting wrongdoing and denies violating the law in any respect, according to court documents.
Britney Ruby Miller, president and CEO of Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment, did not immediately return a message Sunday, Jan. 11, requesting comment on the settlement.
More than 127 employees filed claims as part of the class-action suit, led by Jonathan Lamb, a former Jeff Ruby’s server in Lexington, Kentucky, and Jim Belmont, a former server at Carlo and Johnny in Montgomery.
Other eligible employees who started working at one of the restaurant group’s locations in Ohio from 2021 or Kentucky from 2019 are being notified to file claims for their share of the settlement fund.
Some employees claim to be owed as much as $19,000 in unpaid tips and wages, according to court filings.
Former servers say they were ‘required’ to work off the clock, give up some of their tips
Lamb and Belmont alleged Jeff Ruby’s failed to pay tipped employees the full minimum wage for time spent doing nontipped duties, such as rolling silverware, cleaning booths, slicing bread and other work, according to the lawsuit.
One example cited in the lawsuit is that employees typically arrived at their scheduled worktime as early as two hours before the restaurant opened to prep for the dinner service while being paid less than $7.25 an hour.
Lamb and Belmont also alleged servers were frequently required to spend time working at the beginning of their shifts without being clocked in.
When Lamb, Belmont and other servers were on the clock and receiving tips, they alleged Jeff Ruby’s violated federal and state labor laws by paying out some of their tips to back-of-house employees who aren’t eligible for tips, according to the lawsuit.
While some restaurants can “tip credit” back-of-house employees, there are specific conditions under federal and state laws to do so, which Lamb and Belmont alleged Jeff Ruby’s didn’t meet.
Restaurant group denied allegations after suit filed
Ruby Miller denied Lamb’s allegations after he first filed his lawsuit, saying in a statement that they “have always and will always stand up for justice in truth.”
“Today, we were made aware of a lawsuit filed by one disgruntled former employee,” Ruby Miller said in 2024. “Our family-owned business is passionately dedicated to our employees. They are not only our greatest asset − they are family.”
In a 2024 statement to Enquirer media partner Fox19, one of Lamb’s attorneys, Bob DeRose, called it wage theft.
“It’s not uncommon for employers to bully employees when they stand up for their wage rights,” DeRose said.
DeRose and other attorneys involved in the lawsuit did not immediately return a call from The Enquirer.
Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes in Nashville has already preliminarily approved the settlement and, barring any objections, will finalize the settlement in May, according to court filings.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.cincinnati.com ’
