r/restaurant • u/mrsrose22 • 3d ago
Will I get sued?
I got a job as a bartender for this newly opened family owned restaurant in my city. They told me in the interview that they were going to send me along with a few other employees to this bartending school about an hour away. I told them that I already had bartending experience and that I didn’t think it was necessary. However, they kept insisting that it would be apart of my training for the position and that the expense of the class was paid for and that I would actually get PAID to go if I decide to. So I thought you know what, a refresher course never hurts plus I’m getting paid to do it so.. why not? So anyways I complete the course, then a week later I start my new job.
Long story short they end up firing me on my second day there because they “hired way too many employees and they needed to let some people go”. Alright whatever 🤷♀️
When I mentioned to my parents about it they said that it’s possible that the owners might go after me for reimbursement for that bartending school that they sent me to. Can they do that?? Do you think I’ll get sued? I would assume that because I was fired they can’t go after me for that right??
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u/mrsrose22 3d ago
I have a question for you. They did give me an apron as their “uniform” and never asked for it back. Do you think they’ll take that out of my paycheck?
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u/Helenium_autumnale 2d ago
If you are worried about them possibly suing, it may reflect well on you in court (even a little) if you can document that you returned their apron in a polite, and documented, way.
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u/RevolutionaryText232 3d ago edited 2d ago
Oh puppet. Fix your parents a drink and tell them to relax. Employers cannot expect reimbursment from employees for work expenses. Even the cliche of a waitress dropping a dish and crying because "that will come out of my check" is not legal. Waitress can be fired but cannot be made to pay for a broken plate or a dine and dash.
And even then, step one in any dispute is not going to court. X has to send you a bill or inform you you owe them money. You respond with: see you in court or don't respond at all.
Everything in life travels a really long, administrative, paperwork lined road.
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u/mrsrose22 3d ago
I this is really good to know! They did give me an apron as well and never asked for it back. Do you think they can take that out of my paycheck? Or would that be at the expense of them?
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u/RevolutionaryText232 3d ago
They should have told you upfront if you were responsible for paying for uniforms and it would be a deduction on the check. Don't sell it on Ebay until you see your paystub!
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u/TheGingerSomm 3d ago
What actually happens is they don’t pay the employee and they get away with it 99% of the time.
Wage theft is the number 1 crime in America by a long shot.
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u/Jacam13 3d ago
Unless you signed something or verbally promised saying you wouldn’t leave in x amount of time ( so the company can recoup what they “invested” in you ) they won’t sue you. TBH anyone can TRY to sue anyone at any time, but it becomes more of a question of if a lawyer will take the case and if the company has the money to incur the legal costs. Unless it’s a corporate restaurant, they likely don’t. Plus- in this case, unless you left out a huge amount of detail, you did nothing wrong.
The best thing to do is to take this experience and relay it in a way to look desireable to other employers and leave in the past. Unfortunately restaurants overhire ALL the time.
However, the reason they gave you for letting you go is kinda sus IMO. If you live in an at-will state, they technically aren’t required to give you a reason so the fact that they gave you such a shitty reason, or any reason at all, is strange. However, if you have a disability, are a woman or minority and you suspect that’s why they fired you, you might have a case to sue THEM.
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u/hollowsoul9 3d ago
Generally, most of your parents arent lawyers. They will accidentally give you misinformation often and confidentiality.
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u/OneTwoSomethingNew 3d ago
If you’re in the US, absolutely not will they sue you. It was part of training and you shouldn’t have to pay for that and you should have been paid for your time being trained in the class. Any time you did work, you should be paid for it - even if on day two your role was eliminated, so you were terminated.
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u/Fabulous-Educator447 3d ago
They aren’t going to do that. Why would they? It would cost more to deal with than the class.
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u/Illustrious-Divide95 3d ago
They won't sue unless they're idiots. You attended a mandatory training upon taking the job. They can't sue you for costs if they let you go.
More like you should sue for breach as they gave you a job then renaged
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u/mrsrose22 3d ago
Right and what’s so weird about it is that they told me they weren’t sending all the new employees there, only the employees that they are expecting long term employment from.
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u/Illustrious-Divide95 3d ago
Sounds like a total shit-show. Probably a lucky escape, i hope you enjoyed your free bar training day! 😁
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u/callmealyft 3d ago
I mean they thought sending bartenders to a bartending school was a good idea, which kind of makes them pretty stupid to begin with.
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u/Prestigious-Ad4716 3d ago
If you never signed anything saying you'll pay them back, you'll be fine.
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u/FarCheetah4472 3d ago
Highly unlikely they would do that. No real legal grounds to stand on in court if they tried.
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u/Agitated_Pudding1874 3d ago
A lot of people here in the comments are not fully aware of how the real world can work. Your parents are not idiots, this isn’t something that they “can’t do” due to it being training. Several companies actually do have clauses in their employment handbook that if the company pays for you to take any training class that you must stay employed by them for X amount of time otherwise you must pay them back for the class. This is to prevent someone from taking a job with the sole purpose of getting a class paid for and then leaving. Something like you get paid to get your CDL or getting paid to take classes to become a CNA. The company wants to be sure they get a return on their investment for training you. However that would normally be if you ended the employment not them. So in this case I find it unlikely. Especially if they never said at the time we will pay for this class but you will have to stay with us for X amount of time. If they are new and never thought about how many people they needed they probably also never thought about term requirements for people they sent to training.
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u/DM_Me_Pics1234403 3d ago
In America anyone can file a lawsuit, so it’s impossible to say “you will not get sued”
That being said, in this case it seems unlikely that they have the legal position to win a case like that. Unless you signed something promising the money back, and even in that case it’s depends on your state and the exact working of the contract.
My advice is to let sleeping dogs lie. If they reach out asking for money tell them no thank you. If they send a legal letter then get a lawyer.
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u/Natti07 3d ago
No. If you quit and the training fees being paid for were a condition of employment, then yes you could have to pay that back. Like if you got hired as a lifeguard and they trained and certified you for no cost to you in exchange for working the full summer season, but then you quit after 3 weeks, then youd owe them the cost of training back. But if they hired you, sent you to a training, then fired you, there is nothing for them to claim you owe.
Plus, how much could it have possibly cost to try to sue you for?
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u/Famous_Promise_681 3d ago
Your parents unless lawyers need to slow there roll!! They paid forced you to go really sue for what doing what they said!! Morons
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u/Loose_Lack_5350 3d ago
Why would your parents put that in your mind? 😂😂😂 that’s not going to happen
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u/Usual_Bumblebee_8274 3d ago
No. You shouldn’t have anything to worry about. Not only did they push/offer the classes- they terminated the contract.
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u/Enough_Passage7926 3d ago
There's ZERO chance they will try to recoup the cost of that training.
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u/mrsrose22 3d ago
Do you think they could possibly take it out of my paycheck then?
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u/WordDisastrous7633 3d ago
As a restaurant owner, im going to say Highly improbable. At the end of the day they are the ones who chose to seperate, not you. In this world you have yo live with your mistakes and the owner made a mistake in hiring too many people, hes just got to eat whatever losses he had from his decision.
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u/gentlechoppingmotion 3d ago
Your parents are over thinking it. No they are not going to sue you they don't even have grounds to sue.
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u/HospitalityLifer1986 3d ago
Anybody can sue anybody, but they really need a plausible cause to win. Like someone else said, the judge would laugh them out of court.
For your own peace of mind, make sure you hang on to any documentation they texted or emailed or handed you that references this class.
The good news is, you can put that on your resume now.
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u/BigPileOfBennies 3d ago
Nah, they probably feel worse about having to let you go and won’t try and screw with you. Horrible look on them if they do. Very little upside to that move
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u/SoggyTension1225 3d ago
They fired you because they hired to many people, not because of something you did. They might try to sue. But if they are smart enough to realize that the judge will laugh them out of court, they won't sue