(CN) - Yankee Stadium workers who serve fans with primo ground-level seats say in court that the team has not passed on the service fees charged to fans.
Janine Mendez and 31 other in-seat servers sued the 27-time World Series champions in Bronx County Supreme Court for violations of New York Labor Law.
Legends Hospitality LLC, the concessions and merchandising provider at Yankee Stadium, is also named as a defendant. Goldman Sachs and the Dallas Cowboys formed the Legends partnership for the 2009 opening of the new Yankee Stadium.
In-seat servers sell food and drinks to fans of the Bronx Bombers at field level, starting from an hour before the first pitch and continuing through the bottom of the seventh inning.
They say that, from the beginning of the 2009 season to June 7, 2011, the menu stated that all bills would include a 20 percent service charge and that "additional gratuity is at your discretion."
From June 8 through the end of the 2011 season, however, the menu allegedly stated that the 20 percent fee would consist of 4 percent to 6 percent as a gratuity for the server. The remaining 14 percent to 16 percent would go to Legends "to help defray administrative costs," according to the complaint.
Servers say that the 20 percent mandatory charge disappeared for the 2012 season, but the Yankees and Legends still have not paid them anything from the 20 percent fees they collected since 2009.
Failing to distribute such fees constitutes a violation of New York Labor Law, according to the complaint.
The servers are represented by Brian Schaffer with Fitapelli & Schaffer in Manhattan.
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