Boston.com – An employee has filed a lawsuit against a Dunkin’ Donuts franchisee that alleges that the franchisee’s no tipping policy violates the Massachusetts Tips Law.
The complaint was filed today in Suffolk Superior Court by Ron Meshna, who works at a Dunkin’ Donuts in North Reading owned by the Scrivanos Group, a Dunkin’ Donuts franchisee, said Shannon Liss-Riordan, Meshna’s attorney; the suit is seeking class action status.
According to Liss-Riordan, the suit filed against Scrivanos Group raises a new issue — that the Tips Law prohibits an employer from refusing to allow employees to receive tips.
The suit is asking that Meshna and other workers at Dunkin’ stores operated by the Scrivanos Group be paid for the tips that they did not receive; the suit asks that a jury determine the amount of those tips.
Attempts to get comment from the Scrivanos Group and its attorney were not immediately successful.
Liss-Riordan has represented workers in lawsuits about tips in the past, including one involving skycaps at Logan International Airport and another involving food service workers at Fenway Park.
Brown v. Board of Education, Roe v. Wade, Plessy v. Ferguson and now Meshna v. Scrivanos Group (Dunkin’ Donuts). It looks like we are coming up one of the most important cases of the new century. I tell you what this motherfucker Meshna better hope Bobo Sr. isn’t sitting on this jury. He has been so pissed since these dickheads put out tip jars it is ridiculous, same with Elew too. And I couldn’t agree more. They are like fucking panhandlers. They aren’t waiters or waitresses, they don’t get paid less than the minimum wage. The put coffee in a fucking cup and some of them don’t even do that. Some just grab a donut by making a 180 degree turn. Others don’t even make the fucking coffee. Don’t try to make us feel bad.
Listen, if you want to tip the Mexican who pressed medium on the cash register then go right ahead but they don’t need to be sticking tip jars in your face like fucking bums on the street of SF. You don’t see that shit at Starbucks or Peet’s Coffee I will tell you that much. I really hope they broadcast this on CourtTV because I will be tuning in everyday. This case is certain to rock New England. How many DD’s are there over there? Like 6 million or something I believe. People should be putting that change back in their pockets and saving it and once they have at least $15 buying a howzyafatha.com t-shirt.
I’m with you on this one. You put a fucking muffin in a bag and made me go get my own OJ. Then you try and shame me into tipping you with that big mug next to the register. Go fuck yourselves. You’re probably in this country illegally anyway. If you were worth your salt you’d be at Flingers or Chotckies waiting tables when the guys from Initech come in for lunch.
I am a relatively new hire. Let’s do a little cost/benefit analysis from the corporation’s point of view. If corporate authorizes tipping, they get zero. They even might incur a slight cost associated with finding and dessimating a secure procedure to equitably distribute this untraceable cash, and also, as this comment board shows, irritate some customers.
Yes, there’s a lot to being a crewmember. No, we don’t thrust the tip jar in your face. Yes, we do less than waiters and waitresses but we also make much less.
Personally I’d allow the tip jar. $8/hr part time with no benefits isn’t livable, even for highschool students who live with their parents and have no expenses. Our customers are on the go and for many of them, change is just an irritating noise in their pocket. The costs to the franchise is very small and maybe for once a corporation can put down the calculator and say “yes, I’ll give a penny or two so my employees can enjoy an extra dollar.” Who knows, in the long run, maybe tip jars ARE a net-positive decision, as employees who don’t starve to death don’t leave an opening that requires training costs.
i have to agree also Bobo…hope that doesn’t piss you off. They get paid to do the job…so do it, why do we have to chip in. Probably so they can send away for the illegal drivers license. Woops..I hope I didn’t strike a nerve with ga-new again. Don’t want his in laws to stop cutting my lawn.
Really going to ride that in laws being landscapers joke huh. In reality, my family works for B&B Pest Control, so unless you have rats or rodents of some kind, the Ganew family won’t be making its way to your humble abode.
You have no idea what you are talking about. The suit is being brought against Scrivanos because he is taking the tips that customers believe they are giving to the workers. Given the # of Dunkin Donuts that Scrivanos owns, he could be making more than a million dollars a year that were intended for the workers.
What ethnicity has to do with this is unclear to me.
if you dont like what you are reading then don’t come to the site…we arent the courts, we arent the papers, our opinion means jack shit buddy…. all i know is im never giving a tip to a DD employee so i dont give a flying fuck and if i get chosen for this jury im siding with DD… best of luck tho bro
The suit against Scrivanos is not asking to put tip jars out. Get your facts straight before you jump to your bigoted conclusions.
if you are worried about the treatment then bounce from fucking dunkin donuts… if someone gives you a dollar for handing a coffee than put it in your pocket… its fucking dunkin donuts…. so there is a single guy that goes around and takes the tips out of the pocket? if you dont like it dont work there…. i cant stand people that dont have anything better to do than sue people… we got people fucking murdering and kidnapping kids and shit these days and we have to worry about some cry baby who didnt get to take home an extra 6 dollars because he handed me a small black coffee
ethnicity has nothing to do with it but if my blogger wants to make a fucking joke about he can… it doesnt have anything to do with it your right except that every fucking DD we go to has Latin Americans working…whatever…
i worked at ihop and they fucked us over there…you know what i did? got another fucking job… not that hard… shit will be tossed out anyways not even sure why we are bitching about it…but keep coming back..tell your friends and family…. we need the page views so we can make more dollars to buy more coffees to not tip on….
You need to get your facts straight…there are two sides to every story and the truth is always somewhere in the middle. I have worked for this company for 7 years and they have been very good to me. Yes we have a no tipping policy but I am making over $9. an hour plus health insurance. When a customer tries to leave a tip I simply say we dont accept them. Not a big deal. If you dont like your job, go get another one.
i’m with kay here people…not a big deal…. spoken like a person with common sense
I am an employee of Dunkin Donuts (LEGALLY of scrivanos). Its a lot more than putting a muffin in your bag and getting you an OJ. If you dont wanna leave a tip then dont, but theres plenty of people that come through the 25,000 a week store and want to. Try dealing with the moody, snobby customers do I need to continue on that note…over a headset and being you slave cause you are too lazy to get out of your car and walk into a store. Sometimes, its just a nice thank you from our regular customers who appreciate when we know their order and have it ready for them. The suit is not asking for us to get tips, its a matter of they don’t allow us to have them because when people drive off and leave their change its more PROFIT for the OWNER who wants to visit the stores in his ferrari every once in a while. He doesnt appreciate the work that we do do for the company (for those of us that acutally work hard and are trying to put themselves through school, raise kids…etc) They watch us like hawks on the cameras from corporate for simply taking a sip of a drink or little things like that, expect tattoos to be covered and guys to be clean shaven. Its DUNKINS!? lol Its about time someone speaks up for this issue for everyone that works for scrivanos group. I worked for a different franchisee before where we were allowed tips but it was a lot friendlier of an atmosphere and people were more willing to go out of their way to do extra little things that were needed. So, anyways…good for you Meshna! Im so glad you did this! And my whole store was supportive of your decision
FINALLY someone has done something about these greedy ass scumbags
People are just straight ignorant and the law is a law and Scrivanos is breaking the law and thats the point see kiss my ass good for you Meshna
Meshna! Meshna! Meshna!
MESHNA! MESHNA! MESHNA!
what exactly is the law you are referring to Jen? I have legal counsel working for howzyafatha so we would love to hear your take
First, I do believe that the owner Mr. Scrivanos has worked hard to achieve what he has achieved. What kd of car or cars that he drives is really not the issue here. The issue is that the owner made a decision to pay his employees a certain amount of money hourly and to exclude tips. Most companies have a tipping policy that is presented to a potential employee at hire and I do believe that working for the Scrivanos Group is no different.
Addressing the comment about being watched on cameras. I assume that the people hired to work to watch the cameras are doing a job that is assigned to them. They are monitoring stores for things like theft mostly, but they also monitor for compliance. I know that as an investigator for a large retail store that is in that area, I understand how that works and why such measures are put in place.
Next, I am one of those “lazy” people that come through the drive thru. Depending on the time of day, the drive thru is convenient especially when one is running late.
Lastly, there are days that on my way to work (for the national retailer located not to far from the corporate office of Scrivanos Group), I have come inside in the am and have encountered and employee named Ron whom I summize is the person bringing the lawsuit. In my professional opinion, he is no prize. He is not friendly, thinks he is funny and on more than one occasion, he has been rude to me. Why should I leave a penny, let alone a dollar. After several encounters with this jerk, I either resign myself to the drive thru (being lazy as other Scrivanos employees see me as being) or I have resorted to driving a little further down the street to another Dunks that is owned by Scrivanos.
Now that I have read this and you (who ever you are) resorts to calling me lazy because I use the drive through, I will now go to the new donut establishment (Across from Kitty’s) and let them know that I am tired of being treated as a potential tip, as a jackass or being viewed as lazy. So much for America running on Dunkin. From now own, I am either running on Donna’s or running on Heaven.
Sincerely a former customer.
MESHNA! MESHNA! MESHNA! MESHNA!
MESHNA! MESHNA! MESHNA!
Ashley,
Look if the guy is stealing the workers tips that’s real fucked up and like I said, let’s fight this shit together. Howzyafatha can be the official media outlet for the workers side.
Now, I usually go inside but, when I do go drive thru I don’t go in the drive thru because I’m lazy. I go because there is a drive thru available. Don’t complain about the drive thru. That’s ridiculous. I’m all for the males needing to be shaved and people to have Tats covered. It isn’t “just DUNKINS” It’s a retail store and it’s workers should look presentable. When you got to a restaurant do you like seeing a waiter with a nice thick unshaven beard or some tatted up dude with peircings all over the place? I doubt that you do. That’s place more than any business should be clean cut. You’re handling peoples food.
Anyway, this brings me to the big question Ashley. Are you hot and which dunkins do you work at?
Honestly people are missing the point us workers are being robbed by being forced to give CUSTOMER tip money to people who are already rich its simple. If you want to tip us workers for fixing you up some coffee, sandwich etc its up to you.
I can’t for the life of me understand the vicousness I have read here. Everyone has a right to there opinion it is just sad they can not do it without attacking people they do not know anything about. If you think your service was poor on EVERY reciept there is a web site where they would love to hear your opinion good or bad. I earn my pay, I work hard. I do more then pour coffee and make 180 degree turns to get muffins. I work 8 hours a day with 1 15 minute break. By law I can punch out take a 30 minute break but the fact is the few people I have seen test this law didn’t work there for long. Dont get me wrong I am not complaining, I am here by choice . when I get tired of it I will get a new job. When I was hired I was informed we could not take tips. When I am offered a tip I say thank you for the offer it is appreicated but we can not take tips. There are many people who do tip when it is allow and there are those that don’t, it is a personal choice. This law suit is not about us getting tips. It about deception, the victims here are the customers that walk or drive off leaving money assuming it is going to the hard working people that gave them good service when in fact it does not. If people do leave money we are required to put it in a cash draw. There are people out there that do not give good service and they do not stay on the payroll long, every bussiness has it’s share of slackers. it is not fair to degrade a entire profession because you feel they are beneath you. There are good people that work for DD. The DD envoled in this law suite do NOT have tip cups on the counter. Having a tip cup on the counter is not begging if you do not feel you should tip THEN DON”T I hear no less the 3 or 4 times a day how customers think it is offensive they are not allowed to tip.
Ashley,
If you don’t like the policy buy your own Dunkin Donuts and you keep all the tips. If you can’t buy your own Dunkin Donuts ask Elew to buy you one with his Howzyafatha royalties.
Also I run on Dunkins but why are Dunkin donuts bagels so fucking bad? I mean they literally have the worst bagels in the game. Do you know Fred the Baker? Can you ask that rich midget bastard for me. I hate making 2 stops, 1 for my iced coffee and 1 for a bagel that doesn’t suck.
i actually work for this company and most of your information is wrong he is not suing because he wants a “tip jar” hes suing because the company pockets all excess cash that people leave which adds up to alot of money.
thanks frank, welcome to the party…
meshna! meshna! meshna! meshna! meshna!
I was actually pissed when the DD across the street from me stopped accepting tips. I agree that you shouldn’t ever feel pressured to leave a tip, especially at someplace like DD (restaurants are a dif story), but if I want to leave a tip, I think I should be allowed. The girls at the DD across the street make crap and they are a cute, fun bunch. I always leave there smiling. I ride a motorcycle so I don’t usually carrry a pocketbook and I don’t want to fill my pockets with change, I’d rather just throw it on the counter. It all adds up for them, they appreciate it which they show in return by making my coffee how I like it. That in itself is a miracle. I’ve been to other DD’s and most of the time they screw SOMETHING up.
I will say one thing i have worked for dunks for 7 years and for scrivanos for 4 Gus is a good man and yes alot of the employees would love to have tips but thats not the reason we are here most of us love our jobs for the interaction with the people and fun enviroment/relationship you get with working with the community. ya your right i do put muffins in a bag and i can make you a coffee that even you would come back for everyday. You try serving hundrends of people in 1 hr i bet you can’t do it we do work hard and im not a mexican so the race issue needs to stay out of it. If you have never tried this job than you dont have shit to talk about it is a hard job to keep up with by the rules and the satisfaction of the costumers so don’t talk until you have done it. the way i see it is its work that feeds and puts a roof over my kids head and i love my job and serving the people so SHUT THE HELL UP if you can’t handle doing this job and leave us real hard workers alone.
I work at a dunkin owned by mr. scrivanos and think that he is a nice man. Mr scrivanos owns about 120 stores in the new england area and beyond. I get paid a fair hourly wage and get a raise every six months of about .10 cents. How ever, i dont agree with the fact that almost every day if not ten times a day someone leaves a tip for me because i did a great job with there order. A lot of people leave .25 cent or .50 cents from whatever there change was and just walk away. Other ones try and leave me a dollar or more for a job well done taking an order for 9 different coffees and such. My issue is that when this money is shoved in my face i have to tell them that we do not accept tips. Its embarrassing and sometimes they take offense to that.And when they walk away and leave that money i have to put it in a special container for other customers to use it if they are short a few cents. Also how come we take away that american choice to give a tip to someone where we think they deserve it. No i dont just poor coffee into a cup and if you ever work for dunkin donuts they have so many rules and regulations to make your coffee a dunkin donuts coffee. I work six days a week to servive and cant even afford living on my own. I am a single mother like many dunkin employees and honestly i dont know how anyone can live off of minimum wage. Dunkin donuts gets away with a lot like hiring me at part time and making me work full time hours instead of putting me on as a full time employee. Although i love my job i think that when you do a good job with someones order and they want to give you a tip you should be able to say thank you and keep it.
This is fucking insane ppl. I know I’m wicked late here but I work for this dude , Scrivano’s , and he’s not that bad. And FYI the last owners I worked for Serpa donuts, they did let employees take tips they also had them count them and write down the exact $ amount you left with so they could remove that $ from your paycheck and when u get paid shit money and then find out your so called tips are. Being taken it makes a big fuckin difference in that shitty paycheck that now has an additional 112 bucks taken out of it. So what Scrivano’s does is give you your full pay ,gives you 40 hours a week and all he asks for in return is for you to show up to his establishment and do your goddamn job. Quit whining
oh shit. i must have missed something, cuz i didn’t realize that the the presence of a tip jar physically forced your fucking hand to drop change in it. oh wait it doesn’t. tipping is optional so who fucking cares where someone sticks a jar? you’re all pissed off as if this is something that is directly affecting you but if you’re not putting your cash in the damn cup then wheres the fucking problem exactly??? if you have a sandy vagina because you feel like they don’t deserve to be tipped, well, that goes back to the whole DON’T FUCKING TIP thing doesn’t it? or maybe its that you don’t think that other people should have the opportunity to tip them…yeah i hate it when i come up with my own list of who deserves what for working where and people don’t do exactly what i want them to do. honestly, whats the issue, if some dumbass wants to tip for a don ut WHO FUCKING CARES! now as far as employees feeling entitled to those tips fuck off, you make minimum wage you are not entitled to shit, you get the option for some extra change each day good for you but that shit is still OPTIONAL. if your boss wants your tips he can fucking have em you are already getting paid to do the job, don’t like it? get a fucking job as a waitress making $2.15 an hour and learn what its like to actually work for your fucking money. and as far as the rest of you go, buy a jar, hang it from your cubicle wall and shut the fuck up. seriously.
I’ve worked for Gus Scrivanos for five years. Every time I see him, he is very pleasant. He asks me how I am and compliments me on my preformance. He is truly a decent man. And the Vice President Patricia is a lovely lady. She always helps anyway she can. All you have to do is call. On the topic of tipping, technique lay it is against the law in Massachusetts for employers not to allow employees tips. But he gives good wages and reviews every 6 months. He worked his butt off to get where he is and good for him. Who cares what he is driving that doesn’t matter, it doesn’t make him any different. His son George comes to the stores to see how everything is going quite often and he helps behind the line in any way he can. If you are unpleased with the job you can talk to your manager or district manager and even the operations manager. They all want you to be happy with your job, so that way you work the best for them. This job is not bad. Tipping is a choice of the people. He owns the company he makes the rules. And the rules make sense. I hate when the customers yell at me because I’m the manager and they thin I can fix it but the truth is 1 I don’t own the company 2 if you got tips yur hourly wage could decrease (that’s not worth it) 3 even if I was allowed to let employees to get tips I WOULDN’T because at my store the crew is happy to go out of their way to help every guest for any reason if you allowed then to receive a tip it would change the service. Also if you are working a shift of 8 hrs and 10 other people are working, you are sharing ALL the tips with everyone , even the baker. What would you really walk out with? I am very happy with my job, and at every job there are rules and guidelines to follow, just follow then.
I forgot to mention, there is more then just pouring coffee. The job can be stressful and tense and hard most of the time. And the people in drive thru are Not lazy. That was incorrect to say that. The drive thru is there for the customers convenience. And it’s convenient for the business. That comment should never have been said…. And if they are lazy, it is not your place to judge, you are there working in acustomer service industry. Have more respect for yourself and your coworkers and customers, they make your check