Jeff Ruby restaurant group settles tip, wage lawsuit for $1.5 million

Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment settles a class action lawsuit filed by former employees who say they didn’t receive the tips they earned.

The Cincinnati-based luxury restaurant group will pay $1.55 million toward a settlement fund available to more than 700 servers, bartenders and server assistants, according to a mid-December filing in federal court in Nashville.

Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment settles the lawsuit without admitting wrongdoing and denies violating the law in any way, according to court documents.

Britney Ruby Miller, president and CEO of Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment, did not immediately return a message Sunday, Jan. 11, seeking comment on the settlement.

More than 127 employees filed claims in the class-action lawsuit, led by Jonathan Lamb, a former server at Jeff Ruby in Lexington, Kentucky, and Jim Belmont, a former server at Carlo and Johnny in Montgomery.

Other eligible employees who began working at one of the restaurant group’s locations in Ohio beginning in 2021 or in Kentucky beginning in 2019 are encouraged to file a claim for their share of the settlement fund.

Some employees claim they are owed as much as $19,000 in unpaid tips and wages, according to court filings.

Former servers say they were ‘forced’ to work after hours and give up some of their tips

Lamb and Belmont alleged that Jeff Ruby’s failed to pay tipped employees the full minimum wage for time spent performing non-tipped tasks, such as rolling silverware, cleaning booths, slicing bread and other work, according to the lawsuit.

One example cited in the suit is that employees typically arrived at their scheduled work hours two hours before the restaurant opened to prepare for dinner service, while being paid less than $7.25 an hour.

Lamb and Belmont also alleged that servers often had to spend time working at the start of their shift without being clocked out.

When Lamb, Belmont and other servers were listening in and receiving tips, they alleged that Jeff Ruby violated federal and state labor laws by paying some of their tips to back-of-house employees who were not eligible for tips, according to the lawsuit.

Although some restaurants may “credit tips” to back-of-house employees, there are specific requirements in federal and state laws for doing so, which Lamb and Belmont alleged Jeff Ruby failed to comply with.

Restaurant group denies allegations after lawsuit filed

Ruby Miller denied Lamb’s allegations after first filing her complaint, saying in a statement that they “have always stood and will always stand for justice in truth.”

“Today we were informed of a lawsuit filed by a disgruntled former employee,” Ruby Miller said in 2024. “Our family-owned business is passionate about our employees. They are not only our greatest asset: they are part of our family.”

In a 2024 statement to Enquirer media partner Fox19, one of Lamb’s attorneys, Bob DeRose, called it wage theft.

“It’s not uncommon for employers to intimidate their employees when they stand up for their wage rights,” DeRose said.

DeRose and other attorneys involved in the lawsuit did not immediately respond to a call from The Enquirer.

Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes of Nashville has already preliminarily approved the settlement and, barring objections, will finalize the settlement in May, according to court filings.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment Settles Lawsuit Over $1.5 Million Tips.