Workers at Brooklyn’s stylish plant-based burger joint, Slutty Vegan, acquired screwed out of wages by bosses at the rich business, in accordance to a federal lawsuit.
A few workforce at the firm’s new Fort Greene hotspot allege the cafe denied them bonuses and additional time shell out amounting to at minimum $8,000, in accordance to the suit — even as the enterprise is valued at $100 million.
The litigation was the 2nd unpaid wages accommodate levied towards founder and CEO Pinky Cole in three months, in spite of the firm’s deep pockets and backing from Danny Meyer of Shake Shack fame.
The Slutty Vegan fully commited “intentional, willful, and unlawful acts” causing the workers — who cooked and cleaned at the restaurant — to go through “damages in an volume not presently ascertainable,” the Brooklyn federal lawsuit filed April 4 states.
In January, Cole and two associates were sued by personnel at Bar Vegan, yet another restaurant she owns in Atlanta, professing she withheld strategies and unsuccessful to fulfill minimum wage standards.
The Fort Greene eatery, which sells veggie requires on burgers, cheese steak, warm pet dogs, brought about a stir when it opened in September 2022 with cheekily named dishes these kinds of as the “One Night Stand” and the “Hollywood Hooker.”
A glowing profile of Cole released by the New Yorker journal Monday describes Cole’s “entrepreneurial streak dat[ing] back to her youth in Baltimore” and the company’s preferred “party atmosphere” but does not point out the Brooklyn lawsuit.
In the Brooklyn lawsuit, Slutty Vegan was named as a defendant but Cole was not described by name.
“Slutty Vegan is deeply dedicated to creating a positive and supportive operate environment for all of its workers, and can take the wellbeing of its personnel extremely very seriously. Slutty Vegan takes its lawful obligations critically, and particularly all those relating to its staff members,” the cafe reported in a statement despatched by Anderson Group General public Relations.
“It maintains an open door coverage and invites workforce to convey their concerns with management so that they can be examined and solved in a honest, sensible and lawful manner,” the assertion reported.
The corporation declined to remark on the Brooklyn lawsuit, expressing it has a policy not to talk about pending litigation.
In a January Instagram put up subsequent the Atlanta lawsuit filing, Cole claimed she’s not “familiar with this ordeal” and does not run “day-to-day operations” at the cafe.