Two former servers at Hard Rock Café International's Universal Studios restaurant have sued the Orlando-based company, alleging that it failed to pay minimum wages as required under Florida law. 
 
 Christopher Grant and Benjamin Aguda filed the complaint Friday in Orange Circuit Court. 
 
 The suit alleges that Hard Rock's servers and bartenders, who make less than minimum wage, had to share tips with kitchen staffers who made sure food was garnished and prepared properly. ||||| 
 
 
 
 Hard Rock spells hard work, the kind of work that should be worth at least $7 an hour. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The suit alleges that servers and bartenders improperly shared their tips with "expediters" -- kitchen employees responsible for making sure food plates are garnished properly. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Another attorney on the case, Hillary Schwab, added, 
 
 
 
 
 
 It's news that should concern every diner: When you leave dollars on the table, you're usually leaving it for the harried waitron who did right by you -- not donating to the schlub back in the kitchen who added your parsley sprig. 
 
 
 
 
 
 The real crime is that minimum wage isn't up to $10 an hour by now. 
 
 In Orlando, a pair of restaurant workers are suing their former employer, Hard Rock Cafe (the biggest one in the world, btw), alleging that the company ripped them off by taking their tips and divvying them up among the kitchen staff. That's illegal, says their attorney, Sam J. Smith. In fact, for nearly three years, the pair say they were paid less than minimum wage.The complaint says that Hard Rock tried to cheat servers and bartenders by taking a tip credit allowable only when the servers and bartenders are allowed to retain all of their tips or where a tip pooling arrangement is instituted among employees "who customarily and regularly receive tips." "In this economy, servers and bartenders need all the tips they can get. Hard Rock should have known that a tip-sharing arrangement that included kitchen staff violated Florida and federal law."
– Two former servers at the Hard Rock Cafe in Orlando—the chain's biggest site—are suing because they say the restaurant illegally paid them less than minimum wage for three years, the Orlando Sentinel reports. They say Hard Rock broke the law by requiring them to share tips not only with other servers and bartenders but with kitchen staffers. They ended up making less than minimum wage—it's $7.25 in Florida—and want the difference repaid. "In this economy, servers and bartenders need all the tips they can get," one of their attorneys tells the Broward Palm Beach New Times. "Hard Rock should have known that a tip-sharing arrangement that included kitchen staff violated Florida and federal law." They're seeking class-action status. Hard Rock says the allegations "do not accurately reflect how Hard Rock pays it employees." Writes New Times' Jeff Stratton: "The real crime is that minimum wage isn't up to $10 an hour by now."