Per Se, the critically acclaimed, super pricey, New York City eatery owned by Chef Thomas Keller, will pay $500,000 to its current and former waitstaff, after the New York Attorney General’s office found that it violated state wage and tipping laws.
Under New York law, restaurants that charge customers for “service” or “food service” must notify them if the fees are not gratuities for waitstaff. But Per Se applied a 20% service charge to bills for private dining events without telling customers that the fee would go to the restaurant’s operating expenses, not into its waiters’ and waitresses’ pockets. According to the settlement, Per Se violated the law from January 2011 to September 2012 and it will pay the $500,000 settlement to the current and former employees that were affected.
Per Se did not immediately respond to Quartz for comment but told food blog Eater that it was the result of “an unintentional oversight” and stated:
“Our employees were never short-changed and no monies intended for employees were withheld…The Attorney General’s office’s own findings state that the charge was used in part to pay Per Se’s workers their industry-leading wages—a waiter at Per Se, for example, including overtime and gratuities, makes approximately $116,000 a year.”
But before you pour one out for Per Se’s waitstaff, keep in mind that the employees of the restaurant serving a $125 risotto were still being paid relatively well. Their hourly wages, listed in the settlement, were $16.60—$28.00, significantly higher than the rest of the New York metro area’s waitstaff, as Eater notes. Local average earnings are $13.21/hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Per Se staff also received optional gratuities, the investigation found, and had the opportunity to work extra hours.
Now they can add their share of the $500K settlement to those earnings.