Workers sue STK Steakhouse over wage theft in San Francisco

The suit paints a drastically different picture from STK Steakhouse’s splashy public image and promise of lucrative pay. The lawsuit alleges that employees are refused legally required breaks, not paid for overtime and otherwise feel left in the dark about their employer’s pay practices.

In interviews with The Chronicle, six current and former workers, three of whom are named plaintiffs in the lawsuit, described a stressful and “dehumanizing” workplace that left them feeling aggrieved. 

Some said they have worked as long as 14 hours with no overtime pay and were reprimanded by managers when they asked to take breaks. A bartender said she was forced to work despite showing her bosses a positive COVID-19 test; another said he was infected by a manager who worked while positive for the virus. A Sept. 23 petition signed by 25 front-of-house employees and sent to STK Steakhouse management demanded transparency in tipping practices and a designated break room.

“It’s the first time in my life I felt like I’m a slave,” said Howard, who’s worked in San Francisco restaurants since 2018. “I call it abuse — (of) money, time, all of it.”

STK Steakhouse did not respond to a request for comment.

Wage theft is commonplace in the hospitality industry, and many cases go unreported. But in recent years, Bay Area restaurant workers have won major victories. San Francisco’s famed Z & Y agreed last year to pay workers $1.61 million following unpaid wage allegations. The popular Rangoon Ruby and Burmese Ruby chain of restaurants settled a wage violation dispute for $4 million in 2019. As more local restaurants pay more attention to workers’ rights, staffers also seem to be speaking out more when they’re concerned about pay practices, such as how service charges are distributed.

STK Steakhouse opened just off the Embarcadero in September, advertising premium dry-aged steaks, “spectacular views” and music from renowned DJs inside a neon-lit, clubby dining room. The restaurant’s tagline, “not your daddy’s steakhouse,” is prominently displayed outside.

It marked the latest expansion effort of the One Group Hospitality, a publicly traded company that runs more than 20 STK Steakhouses, including in Las Vegas, New York City, London and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The One Group co-founder and former CEO Jonathan Segal said in a 2010 interview that STK was designed to appeal to “women who said they like steakhouses because they’re good places to meet successful guys, but that the decor, menu, and overall vibe of most steakhouses is intimidating.”

Employees of STK in San Francisco were unhappy even before the restaurant opened. They quietly started organizing, documenting grievances and talking about staging a walkout during Dreamforce, the huge tech conference that brought 40,000 people to San Francisco last month. Kameron Burroughs, a server who worked with San Francisco’s Liberation Law Group on a previous lawsuit, connected with the same firm to pursue legal action.

The lawsuit alleges a series of labor violations. It says workers regularly worked more than eight hours in a day but were not paid proper overtime and would sometimes arrive for work and learn that they had been scheduled for double shifts. When employees asked for breaks, they were “demeaned and frowned upon,” it alleges. The lawsuit also says the restaurant deducted 30 minutes from employees’ work hours to account for meal periods regardless of whether they actually took a break. 

Wage statements lacked proper documentation of hours worked, tips and rates of pay, the lawsuit states. This caused confusion and stress among workers who “have not been able to ascertain if they have been properly compensated,” the lawsuit states.

Working unusually long shifts quickly became the norm, employees said, due to short staffing and mismanagement. They said STK Steakhouse required new hires to pass a rigorous training exam before giving them shifts, which prompted some of them to quit. Some employees, including Howard, left STK in recent weeks after becoming frustrated with the work environment.

At STK’s grand opening party, where Instagram posts showed customers eating enormous tomahawk steaks and getting vanilla vodka-infused whipped cream sprayed into their mouths, bartender Tucker Truen said he worked 14 hours with no break. The next day, nearing the end of a 12-hour shift, he quit.

“I got to a point where my mind is just broken. I’m physically exhausted. I cannot think straight. I did what was healthiest for myself at the time and I walked out,” said Truen, who decided to return to STK when the company promised improvements.

Tips have become a major tension point. The lawsuit alleges STK has an illegal tip pool in which managers have been improperly collecting tips. Employees said they repeatedly asked STK managers how tips were distributed and didn’t get clear answers — to the point that one server started quietly pocketing his cash tips, worried that he wouldn’t see them again if he gave them to the managers.

Arlo Uriarte, managing partner at Liberation Law Group, has represented many Bay Area restaurant workers in wage-theft cases. Failure to provide breaks or overtime pay is common in the industry, he said, but the experience of STK employees stands out.

“From an ideological perspective, the reason why there’s overtime, meal periods and rest breaks is really health and safety,” Uriarte said. “But you see outlier, abusive situations where they don’t care about that.”

The class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of anyone who currently works for STK Steakhouse in California or did in the last four years.

Liberation Law Group attorneys also filed a separate claim for the workers this week under California’s Private Attorneys General Act, which allows workers to seek civil penalties for alleged labor code violations. The state has 60 days to respond and could launch an investigation that could result in financial penalties for STK Steakhouse.

The San Francisco employees aren’t the first to take action against STK. A 2019 lawsuit filed by a former STK manager in Southern California alleges she was wrongfully terminated after reporting sexual harassment and gender discrimination. 

The restaurant created a “male centric environment in which women were subordinate and were treated in a demeaning fashion,” the lawsuit states, both in its treatment of employees and in the company’s branding. (The lawsuit includes a photograph of an STK billboard ad depicting a woman’s legs emerging from a short red skirt, with a cleaver in one hand and a raw steak in the other, next to STK’s tagline. The same image was used in hiring promotions.) 

The lawsuit quotes Devon Mosley, then marketing and public relations director of the One Group, telling the Washington City Paper in 2013: “Truly, our CEO’s mentality is where the girls go to play, the men will follow.”

STK denied the allegations, according to legal records, and the lawsuit was dismissed in 2021. An attorney for the former manager said it was “resolved” and declined to comment.

Elena Kadvany (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: elena.kadvany@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ekadvany