PRINCETON – An employee is suing Outback Steakhouse in a class action lawsuit after he claims it has failed to pay the legal minimum wage to numerous employees, including himself.
As of Jan. 1, the minimum wage in West Virginia was raised to $8 per hour and employees who received tips may be paid as low as $2.40 per hour, according to a complaint filed in Mercer Circuit Court.
Stephen Sheets claims Outback did not adhere to West Virginia law and has been paying its employees less than the legal minimum wage.
Effective Jan. 1, an employer may receive a credit of 70 percent of the hourly rate of the amount paid an employee who customarily received gratuities, which would be $5.60.
An employer may meet West Virginia minimum wage law by paying customarily tipped employees an hourly rate of $2.40 and receiving a tip credit of $5.60, according to the suit.
Sheets claims as reflected by his pay statements, after Jan. 1, the defendant lists his hourly pay rate as $7.25 and $2.13, which is below the legal minimum wage and Outback has been paying numerous West Virginia employees below the legal minimum wage.
Sheets is seeking class certification, compensatory and actual damages and pre- and post-judgment interest. He is being represented by John W. Barrett, Jonathan R. Marshall and Tony L. Clackler II of Bailey & Glasser LLP.
The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Derek Swope.
Mercer Circuit Court case number: 15-C-364