A former employee of
The Alumni Club Tavern & Eatery in Menomonee Falls has filed a lawsuit against the business and its owner after they allegedly withheld tips from workers illegally.
Kerry Kulinski, a former server and bartender, filed a class action complaint on behalf of all food service workers who were employed by the restaurant over the past three years. The complaint, filed last week, alleges The Alumni Club and its owner,
Mitch Teipner, have violated Wisconsin Wage Payment and Collection Laws.
During the 14 months that Kulinski worked at The Alumni Club & Eatery, she was paid an hourly rate of $8 in addition to tips. She alleges the restaurant collected all tips into a “tip pool,” but failed to later distribute those tips to employees.
“(The Alumni Club) required their food service workers to pay a portion of their incoming tips to defendants in order to make up for cash register ‘shortages’ and/or other lost or stolen sums of money or property,” according to the complaint.
The complaint also alleges that employees were forced to share their tips with managers.
Kulinski seeks to recover the undisclosed amount of money that has been withheld from her, an injunction requiring The Alumni Club and Teipner to stop taking employees’ tips and damages up to twice the amount of the “unlawful deductions,” court records show.
The Alumni Club Tavern & Eatery, located at N88 W16718 Appleton Ave. in downtown Menomonee Falls, is a casual bar and grill that first opened in 2019.
Teipner declined to comment on the lawsuit Friday.
