KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jose Pepper's agreed to a $1.75 million settlement with servers who claimed they were not properly paid minimum wage and overtime compensation.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Angel D. Mitchell preliminarily approved the settlement Thursday.
The lawsuit was raised by Kira Florece in July 2020, who formerly worked at Jose Pepper's in Belton, Missouri, as a server.
Florece claimed that servers were required to work before clocking in and were asked to report overtime hours as normal hours under another employee's name.
Florece also said that Jose Pepper's required servers to work off the clock solely for tips during the COVID-19 pandemic and that those tips were unfairly pooled and distributed to non-tipped employees.
Jose Pepper's, which has nine locations in Kansas and four locations in Missouri, denied the claims.
The plaintiff's attorneys will receive one-third of the money and the remainder will be distributed among the servers, totaling an estimated average payment of nearly $570 per server.
