PORTLAND, Maine — Two employees of a Portland hotel have filed a lawsuit alleging management did not give them all the tips to which they were entitled.
Jeffrey Stone and Kimberly Williams on Monday filed a “tip skimming” class action suit in Cumberland County Superior Court against the owners and operators of the Eastland Park Hotel.
The complaint says the hotel adds a gratuity of 18-20 percent to food and beverage bills, including banquets.
The Portland Press Herald reported that the complaint alleges the hotel keeps a portion of gratuities for itself or distributes a portion to managers or other employees who do not serve food or beverages.
Williams has worked as a banquet server at the Eastland since 2004. Stone has worked at the hotel since last year.
Ownership had no comment.
If the allegations are true, this is a disgraceful situation. Servers are only paid $3.75/hour by their employers in Maine, and the reason is that our system of tipping is supposed to compensate to make it a better-paid job.
(You may or may not agree with how tipping works in America, but waiting on the public is a difficult and oftentimes demanding job, and most servers deserve every penny they make. Try traveling to a country that doesn’t operate on tips and see what kind of service you get in the restaurants – I can assure you, it is generally nowhere near as good as the standards of service in most US restaurants.) Other employees such as bussers and backwaiters deserve a slice of the tips pie, but they are already making minimum wage and their jobs are usually not as demanding as the servers’. Management works on salary, and often get benefits as well – absolutely no reason they should be sharing in any tips at all. Shame on Eastland Park Hotel for stiffing its employees! If they are found guilty, I will never set foot in that hotel again!
Well said!!