Federal court enters consent judgment ordering Newport restaurants to pay $554K in back wages, liquidated damages to 125 employees

Date of action:                      Sept. 28, 2023

Type of action:                     Consent Judgment and Order

Names of defendants:           Kale Stems LLC, doing business as Stoneacre Brasserie; Chive Blossom LLC, doing business as Stoneacre Garden; Radish Patch LLC, doing business as Stoneacre Tapas; Christopher Bender and David Crowell.

Background:                          The department filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island alleging that, between April 13, 2016, and at least Jan. 4, 2021, the employers violated the FLSA when Stoneacre Brasserie, Stoneacre Tapas, Bender and Crowell improperly included managers and owners in tip pools and failed to pay the front-of-house employees who participated in the tip pools the federal minimum wage. The defendants failed to pay employees at one and one-half times their regular rates of pay for all hours over 40 in a workweek and did not maintain required records of the hours that employees worked. The lawsuit followed an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.

Resolution:                             The Consent Judgment and Order enjoins the employers from violating the FLSA and recovers $283,061 in back wages and tips they failed to pay employees, as well as $270,519 in liquidated damages, for a total of $553,580. The court also ordered the employers to pay the department $11,419 in civil money penalties. 

Court:                                    U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island

Docket Number:                   Civil Action No. 1:22-cv-00289-MSM-LDA

Quotes:                                  “The outcome of this litigation should serve as a reminder to employers that the U.S. Department of Labor will take appropriate action, including litigation, on behalf of workers when employers deny them wages and tips required by federal law,” said Regional Solicitor of Labor Maia Fisher in Boston.

“The U.S. Department of Labor provides numerous tools to help employers understand their responsibilities and comply with the law to avoid costly violations like those in this case,” said Wage and Hour District Director Donald Epifano. 

The division’s Providence Area Office conducted the investigation. The Boston Regional Office of the Solicitor litigated the case for the department.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – regardless of their immigration status – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages through the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Download the agency’s new Timesheet App for iOS and Android devices — also available in Spanish — to ensure hours and pay are accurate.