A local judge this week ordered two previous owners of Kellys Brew Pub and Restaurant in Albuquerque to pay nearly $1.4 million as part of settling a class-action lawsuit for underpaying its employees.
The Albuquerque Journal reported:
Former owners Dennis and Janice Bonfantine will pay $1,375,000 in legal costs and payments to servers who worked at the restaurant between 2013 and 2016, according to the agreement. In 2016, Kellys Brew Pub was sold to Santa Fe Dining, which is not named in the suit. […]
Last July, District Court Judge Benjamin Chavez ruled that the owners had violated a 2012 city ordinance that raised the minimum wage for tipped employees from $2.13 to $5.25, plus tips, by 2015.
The suit, brought by 16 servers at the popular Nob Hill eatery, claimed that, between 2013 and 2016, they were forced to illegally pay the owners $3 per hour from their tips to cover the wage increase, in addition to 2% of their daily sales. This meant that, occasionally, some servers owed more than they earned and were then required to make up the difference through their paychecks.
More than 100 former workers will receive an average of $9,000 in the settlement, depending on how much they worked.
The settlement states the previous owners are admitting no wrongdoing in the case.
The Kellys Brew Pub wasn’t the only place in town that got caught underpaying its help. Route 66 Malt Shop publicly refused to pay the voter-approved minimum-wage increase and lost its lease two years later amid the furor and lawsuits.
Kellys Brew Pub is in the former Jones Motor Co., built in 1939. Kellys Brewery bought the building in 1999 and restored many of the original design elements, including the Texaco pumps and the original garage doors. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places and remains a city landmark.
(Image of Kellys Brew Pub in Albuquerque by Second-Half Travels via Flickr)
Glad to hear it. Unethical business practices that exploit employees should be punished.