ABBEY SPANIER RODD & ABRAMS, LLP FILES EMPLOYEE LAWSUIT AGAINST WORLD YACHT FOR WAGE AND HOUR VIOLATIONS

Fifteen employees who worked as servers, bartenders or busboys at Word Yacht filed a lawsuit for state and federal wage and hour violations. The employees claim that defendants failed to pay all wages due, including overtime, and that defendants improperly kept gratuities (including mandatory service charges) owed to the plaintiffs and paid by World Yacht customers.

The case was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Case No. 1:10-cv-06286-AKH). Defendants include World Yacht Inc., World Yacht LLC, World Yacht Limited Partnership, Circle Line-Sightseeing Yachts, Inc. and New York Cruise Lines, Inc.

This is not the first lawsuit against World Yacht related to its employment practices. In 2008, in Samiento v. World Yacht Inc., New York's highest court, found that defendants' handling of the gratuities violated the New York Labor Law.

Jill Abrams of Abbey Spanier Rodd & Abrams, LLP represent the plaintiffs. The lawsuit seeks monetary damages and injunctive relief to ensure future compliance with wage and hour laws at World Yacht.