Wage-and-hour suits put industry on defensive

This comprehensive November 19, 2007 article on wage theft and employment discrimination in the restaurant industry features a lengthy discussion of the causes and consequences of employee abuse in food service jobs. Joseph, Herzfeld, Hester & Kirschenbaum LLP's own Maimon Kirschenbaum offers an articulate defense of the practice of filing class-action suits against employers who violate wage theft law.

According to the article, the union presence in the restaurant industry currently is almost nil. Wage theft has proliferated nationwide, touching every part of the industry -- from A-list NYC restaurants to nationwide chains like Applebee's. Kirschenbaum argues that employers, to cut their own costs, often ignore their legal obligations to their workers (for instance, by allowing shift managers to take a cut of waiters' tip pools). Often, those who bear the brunt of abuse are recent immigrants or uneducated transients who don't realize they're being victimized or denied their rights. Kirschenbaum hopes that Joseph, Herzfeld, Hester & Kirschenbaum LLP and other watchdogs can levy a "social good" by forcing the restaurant industry to reexamine its labor practices and reform.