Jose Pepper’s to pay $1.75 million in lawsuit brought by staff at Belton restaurant
Jose Pepper’s has reached a $1.75 million settlement with servers who claimed they were denied minimum wage and overtime.
The Mexican restaurant, founded in 1988, has 13 restaurants across Kansas and Missouri.
The federal lawsuit was brought by a former server who worked at the company’s Belton, Missouri, location.
On Thursday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Angel D. Mitchell granted preliminary approval of the settlement. Mitchell had previously denied the settlement because the court did not know if the restaurant staff would be adequately compensated.
The lawsuit was brought by Kira Florece, a former server who worked at the Belton location from April 2019 to February 2020, according to court documents. She filed the lawsuit in 2020 on behalf of herself and others employed by the restaurant chain.
In the lawsuit, Florece alleged servers were required to work before clocking in and were not compensated for working overtime. Jose Pepper’s denied the allegations.
Florece also alleged that servers were asked to work off the clock during the COVID-19 pandemic just for tips. The tips were “inappropriately pooled” and shared with non-tipped employees, court documents said.
The attorneys for the plaintiffs will receive 33% in fees, expenses and costs. That will leave about $1.14 million to be distributed among the servers.
This story was originally published October 29, 2021 at 12:36 PM.
