Fancy Italian Restaurant Contessa Was Allegedly Underpaying Over 60 Employees — For Years | Eater Boston

"Opened in 2022 as a glamorous rooftop destination that quickly became one of Boston’s hardest-to-score reservations and later expanded with a Miami outpost, this restaurant was the subject of an arbitration settlement after 68 current and former employees alleged years-long mishandling of tip money. Workers say the venue ran a tip pool using a points system to allocate tips to front-of-house staff, but allegedly diverted tips to ineligible back-of-house employees for over a year and repeatedly shorted the pool over multiple years — practices that violate Massachusetts rules tying tips to the lower front-of-house minimum wage. The employer paid out employees as part of the settlement while denying any admission of wrongdoing, and former staffers described both frustration at having to fight for owed wages and fond memories of service nights, urging diners to tip more generously in light of what happened behind the scenes." - Erika Adams