Allegations of unpaid wages, improper tip practices, and other labor law violations have been raised in a newly filed lawsuit against a prominent restaurant group. The complaint was submitted by Hollie Fitzhenry on March 25, 2026, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against Mattos Hospitality LLC, several affiliated companies operating well-known restaurants, and owner Ignacio Mattos Noya.
According to the filing, Fitzhenry brings the case on behalf of herself as well as similarly situated employees who worked at various restaurants under the Mattos Hospitality umbrella. The suit alleges that Fitzhenry and other non-exempt front-of-house staff—including hosts, servers, bartenders, bussers, cooks, dishwashers, food preparers, porters, and others—were systematically denied proper pay under both federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) provisions and New York Labor Law (NYLL).
The document outlines multiple core claims. First among them is an allegation that employees were not paid for all hours worked due to what is described as “time shaving.” Fitzhenry states that she was required to clock out for meal breaks even when business demands forced her to continue working through those periods. She asserts this resulted in at least one hour per week going unpaid for herself and others: “Because Plaintiff was clocked out during her meal breaks even when she was working, she was not compensated for this time.” Similar experiences are reported among other staff members across the different restaurant locations.
Another major claim centers on what the plaintiff describes as an “invalid tip credit policy.” The complaint contends that management deducted tip credits from employees’ wages without meeting legal requirements such as providing accurate notice or ensuring tipped staff did not spend excessive time on non-tipped duties. Fitzhenry reports spending up to six hours per shift on tasks like polishing silverware or cleaning—sometimes constituting more than 20% of her workweek or exceeding thirty continuous minutes—thus allegedly violating both FLSA and NYLL rules about tip credit eligibility.
The suit also accuses defendants of unlawfully retaining gratuities intended for service staff during private events. For certain functions where Fitzhenry received a higher hourly rate instead of tips—$45 per hour compared to her usual $10.60—the company allegedly kept all customer gratuities: “For every event where Defendants paid Plaintiff at the $45.00 hourly rate, Defendants would keep all gratuities from the event…for themselves.” According to New York law cited in the filing (NYLL § 196-d), employers are prohibited from retaining any portion of employee-earned tips.
Further allegations include improper deduction of meal credits from wages despite meals allegedly failing to meet nutritional standards or being consumed by employees; failure to pay required spread-of-hours premiums for long shifts; failure to provide call-in pay when shifts lasted less than three hours; and not issuing proper wage notices or statements as mandated by state law. The complaint argues these actions impaired employees’ ability to understand their compensation or seek relief: “By failing to inform Plaintiff and Class Members of the actual hours that they worked by not providing them with wage statements, Defendants were able to hide their wrongdoing…”
Fitzhenry seeks a range of remedies from the court including declaratory judgments that defendants’ practices were unlawful; injunctions barring continuation of these policies; payment of unpaid minimum wages and overtime; disgorgement of unlawfully retained tips; reimbursement for invalid meal credit deductions; statutory penalties; liquidated damages; attorneys’ fees; costs; designation as a class action under Federal Rule 23; collective action status under FLSA Section 16(b); and appointment as representative for both groups.
The case is being handled by attorneys C.K. Lee and Anne Seelig of Lee Litigation Group PLLC based in New York City. The matter is filed under Case No. 1:26-cv-02453.
Source: 126cv2453_Hollie_Ditzhenry_v_Mattos_Hospitality_Complaint_Southern_District_of_New_York.pdf
