Facts

Plaintiffs Nataly Makabi, Sivan Cohen, Maor Batito, Udi Berdugo, Or Takaev, Ekaterina Avashurova, and Roee Lavi, worked as servers for defendants Aroma Bakery Cafe Inc., a California corporation doing business as Aroma Bakery & Café restaurants, in Hollywood and Encino. Plaintiffs claimed defendants didn't pay them adequate wages.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Server plaintiffs, all immigrants from Israel, claimed they worked for tips only, and that defendants paid no wages. The seventh plaintiff, a hostess, claimed she worked for cash wages that did not include overtime. Plaintiffs claimed that they were entitled to be paid minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime wages for overtime hours worked and were not provided lawful meal or real breaks.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
Defendants claimed that plaintiffs were paid via mandatory service charges, not tips that were added to customer bills. Defendants asserted that plaintiffs were provided meal and rest breaks.

Result

The court awarded $499,229 in unpaid wages and prejudgment interest collectively for all seven plaintiffs against the corporate defendants. The court ordered a permanent injunction against the individual defendants. The court found that the servers worked for tips only, without payment of wages and the hostess received only cash wages without overtime. The court also found that plaintiffs were not provided with meal and rest breaks.

Other Information

As prevailing parties, plaintiffs were awarded reasonable fees and costs under Labor Code sections 226 and 1194 in the amount of $476,866. FILING DATE: Aug. 25, 2011.