ALBANY — A former barista for Stacks Espresso Bar filed a lawsuit against the company on Thursday alleging that the local coffee shop chain unlawfully required baristas to share tips with ineligible employees.
Emeline Bard-Hobbs, who was employed with Stacks Espresso for nearly four years, filed the complaint under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the New York Labor Law against Stacks, its owner Tyler Wrightson and CEO Sue Dunckel.
Bard-Hobbs’s attorney Finn Dusenbery, of Harding Mazzotti, proposed the lawsuit as a Fair Labor Standards Act Collective. The lawsuit seeks to “recover unlawfully retained or withheld tips” for Bard-Hobbs and Stacks employees similarly situated to Bard-Hobbs, according to the court filing…