Olive Garden, LongHorn Workers Sue Company

MIAMI (AP) – Servers at Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and other eateries are suing the restaurants’ parent company, claiming they were cheated out of overtime pay and not allowed to clock-in until customers arrived.

The federal lawsuit filed Thursday in Miami against Darden Restaurants seeks back pay and other compensation, plus interest and attorneys’ fees.

Orlando-based Darden and its subsidiaries have about 180,000 employees and own more than 2,000 restaurants, including Red Lobster and The Capital Grille. Company officials had no immediate comment.

The lawsuit seeks to represent the company’s current and former employees from August 2009 until the present.

Servers also say they were not properly paid for required work such as cleaning and preparation. And the lawsuit claims servers routinely weren’t paid overtime despite working more than 40 hours a week.