NYC Restaurant Per Se To Pay $500,000 In Wage Violation Complaint Settlement

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- One of New York City's most expensive restaurants agreed to settle a complaint that it added a 20 percent charge for banquets and did not pass the money on to its waiters, officials said Thursday.

As WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reported, the wrongdoing was not in Per Se's dining room, where prix fixe dinner for two can cost over $1,000, but in its private dining contract.

"This money was used for operational purposes within the restaurant -- rent, marketing, utility, maintenance expenses, as well as employee wages and benefits," said Terri Gerstein, labor bureau chief for the state attorney general's office.

Under New York law, according to Gerstein, the workers should have been receiving that money in tips.

So the restaurant has agreed to a $500,000 settlement, 1010 WINS' Al Jones reported. The settlement covers the period from January 2011 through September 2012.

Per Se said it was an unintentional oversight, but Gerstein said the restaurant didn't retroactively compensate their wait staff until the attorney general's office stepped in, Diamond reported.

In a statement, Per Se said "Our employees were never short-changed and no monies intended for employees were withheld. Our employees are among the best compensated in the restaurant industry because they are the best in the business. 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.

"This matter relates to the words that Per Se used to describe its private dining operational charge during a 21-month period three years ago. According to the AG, Per Se should have made it clearer that this charge was not a gratuity. Per Se revised this language on its own, well before it ever heard from the AG's office, and has been in compliance for nearly three years."

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