Two Beacon Hill restaurants have agreed to pay a combined $422,000 to settle claims that they withheld a service fee from their waitstaff.
Between May 2023 and June 2024, The Dubliner, an Irish pub at 2 Center Plaza, and Carrie Nation, an upscale cocktail club at 11 Beacon St., charged customers a 3% service fee that should have been distributed to their 84 service employees, according to the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.
Under state law, service fees added to a customer’s bill at a restaurant must be distributed to waitstaff, service employees or bartenders who receive tips. Restaurants may not keep proceeds from these fees, use them to cover operating costs or distribute them to non-tipped staff…