Jordan Hart/Insider
- Three employees are filing a lawsuit against Brooklyn's Slutty Vegan restaurant.
- The workers claim the restaurant failed to pay bonuses, did not adequately compensate for overtime, and miscalculated paychecks, according to the lawsuit.
- Founder Pinky Cole is also facing a lawsuit from an employee of her Atlanta restaurant Bar Vegan over alleged wage theft.
Less than a year after Slutty Vegan opened its doors in New York City, the buzzy restaurant that attracted lines down the block is facing a federal wage theft lawsuit.
The Atlanta-based vegan burger chain is being sued by three employees at its Brooklyn location who allege their bonuses went unpaid, paychecks were miscalculated, and they weren't paid accurately for the overtime hours worked, according to the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs are seeking monetary damages in excess of $150,000 for breach of contract and violations of both New York state and federal labor laws.
The suit, which was filed in April in federal court in the Eastern District of New York, includes a claim that one of the three plaintiffs was required to pay to do his laundry at least two times a week because he was provided only two uniform shirts "despite the fact that he worked five days per week, more than 40 hours every week," court documents read.
Slutty Vegan opened its Brooklyn location in September 2022. The company has about 10 locations in the US, and is part of founder Aisha "Pinky" Cole's $100 million vegan food empire, which has been backed by Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer.
In a statement to Insider, representatives at Anderson Group Public Relations speaking on behalf of Slutty Vegan said the company does not comment on pending litigation but is "reviewing it with our legal counsel" and "is committed to complying with all applicable laws."
"(Slutty Vegan) maintains an open door policy and invites employees to express their concerns with management so that they can be examined and resolved in a fair, reasonable, and lawful manner," the representatives said.
In January, Cole's Atlanta-based restaurant Bar Vegan was hit with a similar lawsuit alleging Cole and her business partners withheld tips from an employee and violated the Fair Labor Standards Act, Eater Atlanta reported.
Cole addressed the lawsuit in an Instagram post, writing "I don't lie, I don't steal and more importantly, I DON'T PLAY WITH PEOPLE'S MONEY."
In her January statement, Cole maintained that she wasn't familiar with the situation since she doesn't run the daily operation at Bar Vegan.