He may be at the top in the reality TV show Top Chef but Tom Colicchio does not seem to be on top of his game when it comes to real life. Colicchio opened his restaurant Craft in New York in 2001 and has since then widened his horizons by opening other branches in different parts of the States.
On Friday of this week, however, a former employee of Calicchio file a lawsuit against him. The complaint? It seems that the Top Chef star has been remiss in giving his workers their due. Included in the complaint are violations such as not paying minimum wage, overtime, and tips from customers.
The complainant is a certain Nessa Rapone, who worked at the Craftbar in New York last year. In her statement, she declared that she is filing the lawsuit on behalf of the other workers of Calicchio who were paid on an hourly basis. Reuters has this report:
A former employee sued “Top Chef” TV show judge Tom Colicchio in federal court on Friday for allegedly not paying some of his restaurant workers minimum wages, overtime and tips from customers.
Nessa Rapone, who worked at Craftbar in New York in 2007, filed suit in Manhattan federal court on behalf of other hourly paid workers seeking to recover “minimum wages, overtime compensation and misappropriated tips” from Colicchio.
So what does the Top Chef celebrity has to say about the lawsuit? That camp has been silent on the matter so far
Originally posted on December 13, 2008 @ 3:52 pm
