Judge orders mediation in Applebee's lawsuit

A U.S. magistrate judge has ordered a mediation conference to discuss a possible settlement in a class-action lawsuit brought against Applebee's International Inc. via Bizjournals

[exapplebuddy]

I'm so glad this was brought to court and to the attention of the public. As an ex-employee of 6 years, I can tell you that servers are required to wash dishes, bus tables, seat tables, prepare food and perform janitorial duties. It's no secret why Applebee's is a multi billion dollar chain. Paying servers $3 per hour to work 6 jobs, is certainly saving them millions of dollars in salary expenses. Pretty smart of them, huh?? Yeah.....until they got caught!!! lol

[Unknown]

I agree with the above said!! I am currently employeed with Applebees and I get 2.13 an hour and I am required to do all of the above when said above gets paid at least 6 dollars hourly to anyone else!!!

[unknown]

I also worked for Applebees for over 2 years and did the SAME thing. Worked in GU, bussed tables, cleaned floors, windows, and furniture. On one shift I would perform 5-6 jobs and NEVER get appreciation it was expected. The only appreciation we would get is the ILLEGAL tip share they have, but even that wasn't distributed fairly.

[Karen Silvers]

I agree with everyone here as a current employee of the company for 3 years, we are required to do far to much @$2.13 an hour...3 years with the company and a good employee and I havent even seen a raise as a server...how jaded is that!! I hope they come to a decision soon!!

[kay]

How do I get the phone number of the lwyer r the web page I can go too??? please email me [e-mail]

[North East NY]

Serves Applebees right.. have so many people/friends who are mistreated and underpaid.
I and my family friends have stopped visiing/patronizing Applebees..I rather go to have a sandwich at a good deli or subway shop.
DTK

[tough dogs]

I just started working at my neighborhood Applebees 2 weeks ago. The sidework required by me each shift takes approximately 2 hours to do after my last party has left. You work nonstop at mostly kitchen duty. I have worked in many restaurants over the years, and have never experienced anything like this. Please tell me that things will have to change if they lose this lawsuit. I wish I had known about it before I started working there. No wonder in this tough economy they called me right away to come in for an interview. No one stays long.

[Tess of St Paul]

If I understand the labor laws regarding tipped employees correctly, they don't have to pay you minimum wage for doing this work -- unless your total wages for the hours worked don't AVERAGE out to at least minimum wage.

So the people who spend 2 hours doing non-server work and 6 hours doing server (ie, tipped) work have to take their tips for the day and add that to their hourly wage and divid by 8 to get their hourly average.

Each individual hour doesn't have to meet the minimum wage standard.

For those whining -- do you report EVERY SINGLE DOLLAR YOU EARN IN TIPS so that it gets taxed like every single dollar I earn does?(My money is on you don't.)

Personally, I'd like to see restaurants do away with tipping staff and pay all staff a fair wage. Restaurant owners will argue that then people will have to pay more to eat out -- but they won't. The people who don't tip will pay more -- those of us who tip might actually end up paying less.

[Demiko]

Tess of St Paul wrote:

If I understand the labor laws regarding tipped employees correctly, they don't have to pay you minimum wage for doing this work -- unless your total wages for the hours worked don't AVERAGE out to at least minimum wage.
So the people who spend 2 hours doing non-server work and 6 hours doing server (ie, tipped) work have to take their tips for the day and add that to their hourly wage and divid by 8 to get their hourly average.
Each individual hour doesn't have to meet the minimum wage standard.
For those whining -- do you report EVERY SINGLE DOLLAR YOU EARN IN TIPS so that it gets taxed like every single dollar I earn does?(My money is on you don't.)
Personally, I'd like to see restaurants do away with tipping staff and pay all staff a fair wage. Restaurant owners will argue that then people will have to pay more to eat out -- but they won't. The people who don't tip will pay more -- those of us who tip might actually end up paying less.

For those who feel that they know the labor law know these. If I work for for 3-4 dollars an hours for six hours a day as a server. Two of those hours are side-work duty but on the clock i'm a server. My tips out is 2.5 of of sales o.k. Now In four hours I have made 450 dollars In sales I'm suppose to tip out 11.25 cent when I made 25 dollars in tips that leaves me with 13.75
I giving 6 hours of labors I am leaving with 13.75 in cash and 18 dollars to 24 dollars on my check which is about 31.75 to 37.75. Now in Chicago the whining we're paid 7.50 an hour. Multiple that by six an wow 45 dollars thank you

i'm req

[Demiko]

For those who feel that they know the labor law know these. If I work for for 3-4 dollars an hours for six hours a day as a server. Two of those hours are side-work duty but on the clock I am a server. My tips out is 2.5 of of sales o.k. Now In four hours I have made 450 dollars In sales I'm suppose to tip out 11.25 cent when I made 25 dollars in tips that leaves me with 13.75
I giving 6 hours of labors I am leaving with 13.75 in cash and 18 dollars to 24 dollars on my check which is about 31.75 to 37.75. Now in Chicago the whining we're paid 7.50 an hour. Multiple that by six an wow 45 dollars thank you

[Wolvff]

Hello there It is finally time this has happened. It is a pleasure finally glad to see the small people can fight back against these huge corp. I worked for them for 6 years :( just like all of the employee's or past employee's here and thank you for posting. The more the public knows the better. Maybe they will try not to PUSH and STRESS their employee's to sell a "PERFECT MARGARITA" for the store TOP sales for that week. BS I say. That is only the tip of the ice burg as I am sure you all know what I am talking about. Thank you again and God Bless to all.

[Disrespected]

I also worked for applebee. Everyday they got everydime they could out of us. Now on top of that.. imagine being fired for requesting your wedding anniversary off. And if the whole situation wasnt bad enough , I was fired over the phone and dragged into court three times over the unemployment that I earned and so richly deserved.When this lawsuit is settled I will go into my local applebees and tell the coward that fired me over the phone... Thanks for paying for my dinner.

[Craig]

My wife has joined as a member of this class action lawsuit. Here is the website they provided her.

http://www.applebeesclassaction.com/Default.a...

[Pegasus_Flying]

There is no way I can say this without seeming to bash someone..But I will try...

I am retired and frequent Applebees, TGIF, Red Robin, and many independent restaurants..

I am NOT a wealthy old fart who spouts off..I worked from age 10 until 62 and earned my pay each and every time I walked into the business I worked for..

I fully believe the accounts given here about the unfairness...

What I don't understand are the comments by people who have worked for Applebees 6 years, 3 years, etc etc..If, in fact, they are that bad, why would anyone work more than a month under those conditions??..When young, I dumped a few jobs, quickly, after learning they were not as I had thought and been told.

I imagine someone will say 'there are no other jobs' etc..If a community is large enough for an Applebees, etc, it is large enough for other businesses..Or...do like I did and move your family to a more employee friendly place..We (my wife and I) not only found better jobs, we met new people and learned about different communities..If you have a spouse with a job he/she can't/won't leave, get out of the bad one and find another..

My point is...and I know this will pi$$ people off...I have yet to see any employer hold a gun to the head of an employee, demanding they work for them..

[ex-applebitch]

Pegasus_Flying wrote:

There is no way I can say this without seeming to bash someone..But I will try...
I am retired and frequent Applebees, TGIF, Red Robin, and many independent restaurants..
I am NOT a wealthy old fart who spouts off..I worked from age 10 until 62 and earned my pay each and every time I walked into the business I worked for..
I fully believe the accounts given here about the unfairness...
What I don't understand are the comments by people who have worked for Applebees 6 years, 3 years, etc etc..If, in fact, they are that bad, why would anyone work more than a month under those conditions??..When young, I dumped a few jobs, quickly, after learning they were not as I had thought and been told.
I imagine someone will say 'there are no other jobs' etc..If a community is large enough for an Applebees, etc, it is large enough for other businesses..Or...do like I did and move your family to a more employee friendly place..We (my wife and I) not only found better jobs, we met new people and learned about different communities..If you have a spouse with a job he/she can't/won't leave, get out of the bad one and find another..
My point is...and I know this will pi$$ people off...I have yet to see any employer hold a gun to the head of an employee, demanding they work for them..

In reply to you, yes Applebee's conditions are unfair. We are required to do quite a bit of work that do not generate tips for only $2.13 an hour. Whenever our last table leaves, we have up to two hours of work to do before we can go home still, and I could list an absolute ton of stuff we have to do. Also if you open, you are there an hour before the store opens still getting paid $2.13 an hour. When you close, you are sometimes there doing closing stuff up to three hours with out having tables. This is why everyone is complaining. As for you saying that people should just go get new jobs, the reason that they don't is because generally if you are working in a restaurant you don't usually have a college education or you have kids or are in college. It isn't so easy to find other jobs that you are qualified to work at or that will work with your schedule. Sometimes, we make quite a bit of money, and sometimes, we don't even make minimum wage. It isn't even so much the fact of what we are/aren't making--it is just ridiculous that a multibillion dollar restaurant chain is too cheap to pay it's employees fairly. Until recently, I worked for the 'Bee's for two years, and they are literally the cheapest place ever. They won't take food off people's tickets if it's messed up unless the person is absolutely irate, and they try to under-portion people's food. It is sad when a company that makes as much money as Applebee's sacrifices the happiness of it's staff and customers to make a profit. They even yell at us if we hand out too many napkins to tables who ask for extra napkins. I think it is about time that Applebee's should have to pay workers what they are supposed to or hire help that they intend of paying a full wage to do those jobs.

[Kevin]

I just began working with Applebees not two weeks ago, and I found myself googling all of these issues. So here I am.

I was TOLD that the average decent server in our store was making 300-350 dollars a week. Good, I thought. That'll do for now. I'm a good server.

...Next I found myself with mostly lunch shifts which were overstaffed. Servers who were lucky to have 5 tables in 4 "prime" hours, one after the other. I did exceptionally well at that shift, having only one table at a time, but two of the five decided to not tip me at all on the same day. Nothing wrong with the food or service - they're just bastards apparently.(And whoever doesn't "believe" in tipping should eat somewhere where they can't get a personal SERVANT for free. It would be better if the system just supported its employees, but so long as it doesn't, not tipping is absolutely evil - it simply is part of the cost of going out.) I made $11 for the whole day in addition to the $2.13/hr.

The next day I work lunch and have just five tables again. All tip, but they suck at tipping. I walk away having done a great job with $14 for the day.

The worst part is that after days like these (which are frequent for servers), you have NOTHING to fall back on. Corporate doesn't give a crap about you. You're still stuck washing windows, cleaning bathrooms, cleaning disgusting garbage receptacles in nice clothing, rolling tons of silverware, refilling everything imaginable, etc... all for $2.13 an hour.

Is Applebees the only restaurant chain this evil? How was this not made illegal years ago?

[Pegasus_Flying]

ex-applebitch wrote:

<quoted text>
In reply to you, yes Applebee's conditions are unfair. We are required to do quite a bit of work that do not generate tips for only $2.13 an hour. Whenever our last table leaves, we have up to two hours of work to do before we can go home still, and I could list an absolute ton of stuff we have to do. Also if you open, you are there an hour before the store opens still getting paid $2.13 an hour. When you close, you are sometimes there doing closing stuff up to three hours with out having tables. This is why everyone is complaining. As for you saying that people should just go get new jobs, the reason that they don't is because generally if you are working in a restaurant you don't usually have a college education or you have kids or are in college. It isn't so easy to find other jobs that you are qualified to work at or that will work with your schedule. Sometimes, we make quite a bit of money, and sometimes, we don't even make minimum wage. It isn't even so much the fact of what we are/aren't making--it is just ridiculous that a multibillion dollar restaurant chain is too cheap to pay it's employees fairly. Until recently, I worked for the 'Bee's for two years, and they are literally the cheapest place ever. They won't take food off people's tickets if it's messed up unless the person is absolutely irate, and they try to under-portion people's food. It is sad when a company that makes as much money as Applebee's sacrifices the happiness of it's staff and customers to make a profit. They even yell at us if we hand out too many napkins to tables who ask for extra napkins. I think it is about time that Applebee's should have to pay workers what they are supposed to or hire help that they intend of paying a full wage to do those jobs.

I can find nothing to dispute in your response to my post, which was not meant to minimize the Applebee employee complaints..I agree, especially and heartily with your last paragraph concerning correct pay...

Maybe this lawsuit will help in that regard..

[Grow Up]

You can cry about how bad the wages at Applebee's are, or you can do something about it and go somewhere else. Taking a lawsuit because you feel underpaid is like suing the tobacco companies for getting cancer. That's your own stupidity. I would not work for 2.13, period. I would go somewhere else. Yet people do work for this wage, and there MUST be a reason people still do, and that reason is the tips are worth it. If not, then quit crying and get a real job.

[dawn]

i worked there for 3half yrs opening and had to do it by myself most of
the time. on top waitin tables and all the stuff they say windows walls floors sidewalks ect. all at 265 hr it sucked

[Kevin]

Grow Up wrote:

You can cry about how bad the wages at Applebee's are, or you can do something about it and go somewhere else. Taking a lawsuit because you feel underpaid is like suing the tobacco companies for getting cancer. That's your own stupidity. I would not work for 2.13, period. I would go somewhere else. Yet people do work for this wage, and there MUST be a reason people still do, and that reason is the tips are worth it. If not, then quit crying and get a real job.

Your opinion is misinformed or purposefully ignorant.$2.13 is standard server wage at A LOT of places. That's a general thing for many restaurants.

The issue with APPLEBEES is the other work required of servers without adjusted pay for that work. It needs to change and it will.

The $2.13/hr. is not the problem in and of itself.