Earlier today, the Court of appeals for the District of Columbia issued an opinion in Camara v. Mastro’s Restaurants, LLC, 18-7167, which affirmed the district court’s refusal to compel an FLSA plaintiff to arbitration where (i) the company did not maintain a signed arbitration agreement and (ii) the plaintiff swore that he never signed the agreement. The Court of Appeals held that the restaurant failed to satisfy its burden of demonstrating that the plaintiff agreed to the terms of the company’s arbitration program or had an “implied agreement” based on his continued employment at the restaurant following the rollout of the arbitration program. A copy of the opinion is available here.
The appeal was argued by Andy Santillo. Our co-counsel are Jason Rathod and Nick Migliaccio of Migliaccio & Rathod LLP.
The lawsuit alleges that the restaurant implemented an improper tip pool and violated federal and District of Columbia wage law by requiring servers to pay a portion of their tips winerunners, silverware polishers, and baristas.