Federal lawsuit for unpaid wages and tip-credit violations; and mistreatment of minors

Update as of January 30, 2024
The judge re-affirmed the main points of her March 31, 2023 decision, discussed below. Tipped servers can still continue to bring claims against Cracker Barrel.

Update as of March 31, 2023
After nearly two years of fighting, the Court has finally granted "conditional certification" of the lawsuit against Cracker Barrel and has authorized notices be sent to ALL Cracker Barrel servers NATIONWIDE over the last three years (including currenly employed servers) who work on a tip-credit rate. This is a court-authorized decision, where a federal judge has agreed that there is evidence of several company-wide violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act relating to the compensation and work of servers paid on a tip-credit rate. 
The full decision can be read here. 
What this means is that any server who is currently working for Cracker Barrel, or who has worked for Cracker Barrel at any time in the past three years, and is paid on a tip-credit rate has the right to try to join this lawsuit. Cracker Barrel cannot retaliate against you for joining. Fill out the below survey immediately so that your potential claims can be further evaluated. 

A federal lawsuit against Cracker Barrel Old Country Store has been filed for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act.  Based on information already obtained, we believe Cracker Barrel is underpaying its servers based on the amount of side-work they perform and off-the-clock work. We currently have over 450 servers as part of this lawsuit and more are joining every week.  (Click here to read the updated federal lawsuit, and click here to read more about the class action allegations.)
If we are successful, each server could potentially be entitled to hundreds or thousands of dollars in unpaid wages, though we cannot guarantee a result. For current employees, you may have the added benefit of getting Cracker Barrel to make changes as to how it treats its servers. Cracker Barrel cannot retaliate against you for answering this survey or otherwise raising wage-related claims.  Fill out this confidential survey to see if you may be eligible to join.

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* 1. Dates of employment at Cracker Barrel you worked as a server (a tipped employee) during the last three years and address of location(s) you worked. Also let us know if you are a current employee. 

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* 2. Approximate number of shifts worked per week, and length of each shift.

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* 3. About what percentage of your work time per week or per shift did you spend performing non-tipped work or side work (such as cleaning soda/coffee/tea machines, cleaning Delfields,  preparing food, washing dishes, rolling silverware, MAC duties, etc.)? A reasonable estimate (such as about 40% per week) would be sufficient. 

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* 4. Did you ever spend any time working off-the-clock? For example, did you have to clock-out before  getting your tips but have to wait at the restaurant? If so, please provide an estimate about how much time you would spend working off-the-clock (for example, "30 minutes per shift").

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* 5. Before you started working as a server (tipped employee), were you informed by any Cracker Barrel manager or Human Resources that Cracker Barrel would be taking a tip credit (including the specific amount of the tip credit), paying you less than minimum wage, and that it would not take away your tips earned? (If Cracker Barrel told you about the tip credit on your first paystub, that was too late for them to give notice to you.)

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* 6. Any additional information you would like to add (including identifying any co-workers or witnesses who may be willing to support you)?

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* 7. Your age when you started working for Cracker Barrel.

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* 8. Please provide your contact information so an attorney may contact you and to further help with evaluating your potential claim.

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* 9. This information will be kept confidential and will be used to assist in evaluating your potential case. This form does not create an attorney-client relationship, and if we are able to take your case, we will send a separate representation agreement. There could be a statute of limitations issue on your potential claims against Cracker Barrel, and you may lose your potential claims if you delay too long. If you believe you have a potential claim, you need to contact an attorney as soon as possible. 

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