PROPOSED CLASS/COLLECTIVE ACTION SETTLEMENT

Pineda, et al. v. Hacienda Amigos, LLC, Case No. 2024CA000296 (Nineteenth Judicial Circuit in and for St. Lucie County, Florida)

PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY. YOU MAY BE ENTITLED TO A PAYMENT FROM A CLASS/COLLECTIVE ACTION SETTLEMENT IF YOU WORKED AS A SERVER AT HACIENDA AMIGOS MEXICAN KITCHEN IN PORT ST. LUCIE, FLORIDA BETWEEN JUNE 20, 2018, AND OCTOBER 2, 2023.

A court authorized this proposed class/collective action settlement. This is not a solicitation from a lawyer and is not notice of a lawsuit against you.

WHY DID I GET A NOTICE?

This is to inform you that a proposed settlement has been reached in a class/collective action lawsuit between Hacienda Amigos, LLC d/b/a Hacienda Amigos Mexican Kitchen (“Defendant”) and certain individuals who worked as Servers at Hacienda Amigos Mexican Kitchen between June 20, 2018, and October 2, 2023. Luis Pineda (“Mr. Pineda”), a former Server at Hacienda Amigos Mexican Kitchen, initiated this lawsuit. Rather than continue to litigate these matters, the Parties have reached a settlement. Pursuant to the terms of the settlement, Servers who worked at Hacienda Amigos Mexican Kitchen in Port St. Lucie, Florida, between June 20, 2018, and October 2, 2023, may receive payments depending on the amount of time they worked between these time periods.

The lawsuit alleges that Defendant violated the Florida Minimum Wage Act by failing to provide servers adequate notice of the tip credit, failing to compensate servers the applicable reduced wage. The case is Pineda, et al. v. Hacienda Amigos, LLC, Case No. 2024CA000296, currently pending in the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit in and for St. Lucie County, Florida. The proposed settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing by Defendant, and Defendant denies that they violated the law. The Court has not decided who is right or wrong. Rather, to avoid the time, expense, and uncertainty of litigation, the Parties have agreed to settle the lawsuit. The settlement has been preliminarily approved by the Court.

The lawsuit also alleges that Defendant violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to provide servers with federal overtime wages at 1.5 times their regular hourly rate for every hour worked over 40 in a workweek. The settlement of this portion of the litigation has also been preliminarily approved by the Court.

You are a member of the minimum wage class and eligible to participate in the settlement if you worked as a Server at Hacienda Amigos Mexican Kitchen in Port St. Lucie, Florida between June 20, 2018, and October 2, 2023.

You are a member of the overtime collective and eligible to participate in the settlement if you worked more than 40 hours in one or more workweeks as a Server at Hacienda Amigos Mexican Kitchen in Port St. Lucie, Florida between June 20, 2020, and October 2, 2023.

If the Court approves the settlement, members of the class who submit valid claims will receive a distribution from a settlement fund that Defendant has agreed to establish. Each individual who submits a valid claim will receive a portion of this fund, after all notice and administration costs, an individual payment to Mr. Pineda, and attorneys’ fees – if approved by the Court – have been paid.

Payments are estimated to be $0.73 per hour for each hour you worked for the minimum wage class, depending on the duration of your actual employment.

Payments are estimated to be $7.67 per overtime hour for each overtime hour you worked for the overtime collective, depending on the duration of your actual employment.

These rights and options (and the deadlines for exercising them) are explained in the notice.

The Court in charge of this case has yet to decide whether to approve the Settlement. Payments will be made after the Court approves the Settlement and after appeals are resolved. Please, be patient.