Page:Cordúa Restaurants, Inc. v. NLRB (19-60630) (2021) Opinion.pdf/2

 Cordúa operates food services businesses in the metropolitan Houston, Texas, area, including nine restaurants with the brand names “Churrascos”; “Américas”; “Amazón Grill”; and “Artista.” Churrascos has five locations, including Churrascos River Oaks and Churrascos Sugar Land. Cordúa employs several hundred servers, kitchen staff, and bartenders at its nine restaurants. Employee Steven Ramirez began working for Cordúa as a server at Churrascos River Oaks in September 2012. After working for Cordúa for nearly two-and-a-half years, Ramirez noticed discrepancies in his paychecks and began to question whether he was properly paid for his shifts. Ramirez discussed his concern with coworkers and found that they had experienced similar issues. Ramirez hired an attorney, and together they concluded that Cordúa was paying its restaurant employees below minimum wage, improperly crediting tips against its minimum wage obligations, and failing to pay overtime wages.
 * A. The collective action lawsuit against Cordúa

In January 2015, Ramirez filed a collective action complaint against Cordúa in federal district court. The complaint alleged that Cordúa had committed various violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201 et seq., and the Texas Minimum Wage Act, §§ 62.001 et seq. Also in January 2015, an initial group of seven additional Cordúa employees joined the collective action lawsuit as plaintiffs.

Ramirez transferred restaurants from Churrascos River Oaks to Artista in March 2015. Soon after, Ramirez’s Artista coworkers began asking him about his lawsuit. These coworkers shared that they had experienced similar wage and hour discrepancies. Ramirez referred these coworkers to his attorney.