The famed San Francisco eatery House of Prime Rib is once again in the legal spotlight. A complaint lodged by former server Sean Hyatt against the iconic establishment alleges a series of labor law violations, including denied meal breaks and uncompensated post-shift work, as reported by the San Francisco Business Times.
According to the lawsuit filed on Monday, as told to the San Francisco Chronicle, Hyatt claims that the restaurant’s management, including owner Joe Betz and his son, Steven Betz, created an environment that not only pressured employees to skip breaks but also threatened repercussions through the use of surveillance cameras to enforce their policy. Hyatt’s lawsuit seeks upwards of $25,000 in damages and aims for class action status to represent the plight of an estimated 100 affected employees.
These accusations are not taken lightly, as the stakes for Betz & Sons, Inc. are high, touching one of the city’s most revered dining landmarks. The lawsuit also names Steven Betz as a defendant, citing an instance where he allegedly told staff, “If you don’t like the way we do things here, there’s the (expletive) door,” during a meeting, as Hyatt related, as cited by the San Francisco Chronicle. The plaintiffs argue that to collect their tips, they often had to wait long after putting in their time clock, on top of other tasks performed off the clock.
In defense, owner Joe Betz rubbished the claims, stating, “This is a total fabrication,” and vowed to fight the accusations vigorously, as he expressed to the San Francisco Chronicle. However, this battle is familiar to the House of Prime Rib, which suffered previous lawsuits on similar grounds. A similar class action lodged in April 2023 was resolved through a preliminary settlement last October for an undisclosed sum, suggesting a pattern to these legal disputes that has trailed the restaurant across decades.
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