A lawyer for a former bartender at Cafe Boulud is filing a class action lawsuit against the restaurant's parent company and famed chef/restaurateur Daniel Boulud, claiming that his client was fired after he voiced concerns about unsanitary conditions behind the bar. Specifically, Arie Ohayon says he witnessed a bar manager putting ice in customers' drinks with her bare hands. The lawsuit also alleges that the same manager put tools inside clean ice bins.
The NYC Health Department requires bar workers to use tongs when handling ice and even wear gloves when handling bar fruit, and Cafe Boulud's current A grade could have been jeopardized had inspectors witnessed that. But instead of being lauded for his concern, Ohayon says he was terminated not long after reporting what he saw to the higher-ups. The lawsuit also alleges that Cafe Boulud did not meet minimum wage and overtime requirements, and allowed non-top employees to share in the servers' tip pool.
"I just think it's sad that at such a high end restaurant someone who complains about a health and safety violation would be treated with such disrespect," says Ohayon's attorney, Maimon Kirschenbaum. The lawsuit seeks an undisclosed sum, which Ohayon and company may very well get—some of it, at least. In 2007, Boulud settled a federal lawsuit accusing him of discriminating against non-white employees at his restaurant Daniel.
