ATLANTA – The owner of a popular Atlanta vegan restaurant chain is facing a lawsuit over alleged unpaid wages at one of her businesses.
According to reports from the Atlanta Business Chronicle, a former employee at Slutty Vegan CEO Pinky Cole’s Bar Vegan hotspot in Ponce City Market claims the restaurant withheld a portion of her tips while paying her less than the federal minimum wage.
Morgan Georgia says she was an employee at Bar Vegan for over two years and says that the restaurant paid tipped employees $2.13 an hour while requiring them give up 25% of their tips. While state law and federal guidelines allow businesses to pay tipped employees that hourly wage, they are required to have the maximum tip credit.
In December, Georgia filed a collective-action lawsuit against the bar, Cole and the other owners
“We believe there were significant tip credit violations here with the restaurant retaining tips,” Georgia’s attorney M. Travis Foust said to the Chronicle.
If the allegations are true, it would be a violation of the Fair Labor and Standards Act.