Farmingdale Waitresses Sue Employer for Withholding Tips

Two former Woodbury Country Club waitresses from Farmingdale filed a class-action suit Tuesday against their former employer for withholding tips from staff.

Lisa Macaluso and Christina Pica say the caterer failed to pay as many as 60 current and former staffers the 20 percent mandatory gratuity it collected from patrons.

For about eight years, according to court documents, the defendents have failed to pay overtime for employees working more than 40 hours per week. Macaluso and Pica also allege that the mandatory gratuity charged to customers of the club were never passed on to employees, but rather kept and added to profits.

Macaluso and Pica, both from Farmingdale, were together employed for over two years at Woodbury Country Club. Their suit seeks to cover wait staff, bussers, bartenders, hosts, food runners, and others who were promised similar compensation.

“Lisa and Christina were hardworking employees, who poured in hours of work for Woodbury Country Club,” said Lenard Leeds of Leeds, Morelli & Brown, P.C., “Yet at the end of the night, when the customers thought these employees were already taken care of and tipped, they walked home with nothing more than their hourly rate.”

This suit comes after similar allegations were made against another Woodbury caterer, Morrell Caterers. Scott Morrell, owner of the company, and the Woodbury Jewish Center have , going back to when 

Woodbury Country Club representatives were not immediately available for comment. Patch will be following this story as it unfolds.