Manhattan restaurant chain Nobu is being sued in a dispute over wages with two former employees in the latest of a series of legal battles involving high-profile restaurants in New York.

New York restaurant staff are commonly paid tips instead of full wages and the lawsuit accuses Nobu, Nobu 57 and Nobu Next Door of failing to pay overtime and unfairly splitting tips. 

It alleges that more than 100 waiters and busboys were cut out of their proper tips and that the tip pool unfairly included managers and other usually untipped staff. 

French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten was recently accused of not paying proper wages or dividing tips, while last week Daniel Boulud agreed to settle a discrimination lawsuit after workers accused his restaurant Daniel of promoting white workers ahead of non-whites. 

In the UK, Gordon Ramsay Holdings is facing claims of racial discrimination from a Muslim worker, who claimed he was subject to abuse at Ramsay’s flagship restaurant on London’s Royal Hospital Road.

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By Kerstin Kühn

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