Sacre bleu!
The owners of one of the city’s snazziest French restaurants are being dragged back to court on tip-skimming allegations they thought they had settled.
Famed chef Eric Ripert — whose Le Bernardin holds a coveted three-star Michelin rating — and partner Maguy Le Coze was hit with a class-action suit yesterday by a former waiter who saysat their Midtown eatery.Alessandro Fagorzi says he and other servers were forced to share their gratuities with the maitre d’ and other “non-service employees.” — including the “coffee guy” whose only job is to brew up java in the kitchen.
The claims in the Manhattan federal court filing are virtually identical to those leveled in a similar suit that Le Bernardin settled with seven former employees last month.
Terms of that deal are confidential, but court records show the amount was “94 percent of what compensatory damages would have been, had plaintiffs prevailed in the case.”
Calls for comment from Le Bernardin and its lawyer weren’t returned.