Why the Russians are catering the Trump event:
Donald Trump: Shocking New Lawsuit Alleges He Stole Tips From Employees
Tue, March 8, 2016 10:55am EDT by Samantha Wilson
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A new lawsuit alleges that the Trump SoHo Hotel in NYC scammed its catering staff out of tips! Donald Trump could be in major trouble if the allegations are proven true. Click through for the details!
Donald Trump, 69, has found himself in a world of legal trouble. A new lawsuit alleges that his Trump SoHo Hotel illegally stiffed its catering staff out of their tips by keeping the mandatory 22% service fee added to customers’ bills. Not. Good. Click through for the explanation of the lawsuit!
Deborah Garcia, a catering staffer who worked for the Trump SoHo Hotel, is suing Trump, his daughter Ivanka, and his son, Donald Jr., claiming that their hotel pocketed the 22% service fee added to bills, that most customers likely assumed was going toward tips. Per New York state law, a business must clearly indicate in 12-point font a menu if a mandatory fee isn’t going toward gratuity or tips. You guessed it — there was no notice on the menus at the hotel, according to Deborah’s lawsuit!
“A reasonable customer would believe that the service was in fact a gratuity for [Deborah] and similarly situated employees,” says the lawsuit, which was filed in Suffolk County Supreme Court on Feb. 13, 2015. Instead, the hotel “retained the money for their own benefit,” violating the state’s labor law. Deborah worked at the hotel in 2013, in a catering team of 40, which handled birthdays, weddings and other special events. She made $15 an hour, but says she never made tips. According to the lawsuit, from at least 2009 to to 2015, when the lawsuit was issued, the service charge was applied to bills.
Trump and his hotel are firing back at Deborah, claiming that any of the problems listed fall on the third-party company that contracted her for the hotel. “The lawsuit filed in 2015, is entirely a reflection of the responsibility of the third-party contractor,” the hotel said in a statement. “The plaintiff has never been a staff member of the Trump Soho Hotel. She was contracted by a third party but was never directly employed by Trump Soho Hotel.”
Deborah is hoping the suit will receive class-action status so that other workers in her situation can joint case. Trump is due in court on September 1, 2016 — just two months before the presidential election. Well, let’s see if he makes it that far.
