Harlem Restaurant Cecil Steakhouse faces legal action over allegations of salary theft

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Former Cecil Steakhouse employees allege the popular Harlem restaurant has engaged in wage theft and other illegal practices paid for by aggrieved employees. The allegations, which surfaced in a class action lawsuit filed with the New York Supreme Court on August 11, date back to March 2021 and involve around 50 current and former employees of the restaurant.

The lawsuit was filed against Cecil Steakhouses’ parent company, Arts in Common LLC, on behalf of Elijah Hardwell, an employee who worked at the restaurant from March to June 2021. He and other employees allege the restaurant was out of business. is engaged in illegal payment practices in the course of his employment, including saving time, in which the restaurant would have deducted an hour from employee tally cards for a lunch break, whether the workers took less or no time off ; paying workers below New York City’s minimum wage of $ 10 an hour; and failing to provide staff with proper documentation of their hourly rates of pay and overtime when they began working for the restaurant.

Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that Hardwell was illegally paid on a bi-weekly, as opposed to weekly, basis. Because he spent at least 25 percent of his shift performing physical tasks, the lawsuit argues that Hardwell is technically a manual laborer who must be paid weekly in accordance with New State labor laws. York. It should be noted, however, that many restaurants in New York City pay their employees on a bi-weekly schedule. Eater has contacted Cecil Steakhouse for comment.

The class action is for an amount to be determined at trial, plus interest, legal fees and costs. Up to 50 employees could have been affected by the alleged incidents, according to Lawrence Spasojevich, an attorney for Aidala, Bertuna and Kamins who represents Hardwell. He estimates that some workers may be entitled to up to $ 10,000 each, not to mention late payments and other damages.

The Cecil Steakhouse hails from Richard Parsons, former CEO of Time Warner Cable, and restaurateur Alexander Smalls, who opened the restaurant as Cecil in 2013. Run by chef JJ Johnson, the Harlem restaurant has received almost relentless praise. during its first three years of activity. But despite early praise, the Cecil closed in 2016 as part of a consolidation that turned Mintons, a same-team jazz club next door, into a full-fledged restaurant.

Johnson, who now owns and operates three locations of FieldTrip, his quick and casual rice bowl restaurant, left the Harlem establishment before it opened as Cecil Steakhouse in 2017.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

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