NYC chef-owner Boulud sues worker advocates

Nation's Restaurant News, July 3, 2006

NEW YORK -- Famed chef-restaurateur Daniel Boulud has filed a lawsuit here against an employee advocacy group, the Restaurant Opportunities Center, or ROC, alleging that it is slandering his reputation with claims he mistreats and underpays immigrant workers.

Boulud, who would not comment on the litigation, affirmed in the court filing that he adheres to labor laws and has a formal policy prohibiting discrimination, the New York Post reported.

The chef, best known for his flagship restaurant Daniel here, has been targeted by ROC members' protests outside the establishment. The rallies have complained that Boulud pays low wages and otherwise mistreats its Latino and Bangladeshi workers, including his alleged promotion of less-qualified white employees--.

Boulud's lawsuit contends that none of those workers had complained to his director of operations, the Post reported.

The ROC--a quasi union that initially formed to find jobs for foodservice workers who survived the Sept. 11, 2001, destruction of the World Trade Center--last month said a class-action lawsuit had been filed against the New York-based Fireman Hospitality Group for alleged wage-and-hour infractions and misappropriation of workers' tips at its Shelly's New York restaurant. The multiconcept Fireman group has denied those charges, which are similar to ones the ROC said were filed in January against Fireman's Redeye Grill in Manhattan.