California Dreaming prevails over waitresses in tipping case

California Dreaming has won a case against two of its wait staff members who claimed the company was unlawfully taking part of their tips and giving the money to other workers whom the waiters claimed weren’t serving the customers as much as they did.

Documents filed in U.S. District Court said the case was resolved by mandatory arbitration, which California Dreaming requires as a condition of employment by its waiters and some other employees. In mandatory arbitration, employees have to forgo the right to using the court system to pursue alleged wrongs.

The arbitrator in the case was Kris Cato, a Columbia lawyer whose website says her practice consists of defending employers in various kinds of labor law disputes including wage issues and employment discrimination.

According to documents in the case, Cato was paid $83,700 for her work in the case.

Under the arbitration agreement, Cato is paid by the company.

Cato’s work as arbitrator included hearing testimony from numerous witnesses, including from the chief financial officer of California Dreaming’s parent company, CentraArchy Restuarant Management, as well as from its CEO.

Evidence in the case clearly established that the workers the two waitresses were complaining about were in fact entitled to a share of the waitresses’ tips, Cato ruled in a 16-page order.

Todd Ellis, one of the lawyers for waitresses Brittany Bradley and Tomia Corbitt, said, “This is one arbitrator’s opinion, and we disagree with the results and are disappointed in the ruling.”

The ruling only applies to Bradley and Corbitt, Ellis said. “We have many other clients which we are currently providing an opinion on their options as to how to proceed.”

CentraArchy has about 20 properties in several states, including in South Carolina, in Columbia, North Myrtle Beach and Surfside Beach.

Basically, the complaint against California Dreaming was that its management required workers who got tips to participate in an “invalid tip pool” that shared tips with kitchen bartenders who had no customer interaction and, as part of the workers’ employment, were paid less than minimum wage “in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.”

This story was originally published September 6, 2017 at 5:23 PM with the headline "California Dreaming prevails over waitresses in tipping case."