Olive Garden servers and bartenders paid below the standard minimum wage may be covered by an FLSA collective action alleging Olive Garden and its parent Darden violated federal tip-credit rules. A judge conditionally certified the collective on October 16, 2026; no court has found the companies liable, and there is no settlement or payment.
Allegations Only · No Settlement
This article describes a pending collective action. The statements below are unproven allegations. Olive Garden and Darden have not been found liable, conditional certification is not a ruling on the merits, and there is no settlement or payment. This page is informational. It is not legal advice.
What the Court Decided
On October 16, 2026, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani of the District of Massachusetts granted conditional certification in Kappler v. Olive Garden Holdings, LLC, No. 4:23-cv-40106. The defendants are Olive Garden Holdings, LLC, Darden Corporation and GMRI, Inc. The ruling allows the case to go forward as a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act on behalf of Olive Garden servers and bartenders paid less than the standard minimum wage.Conditional certification is an early step. The order explains that its only consequence is that court-approved written notice can be sent to eligible workers. The judge did not decide whether Olive Garden broke the law, and the defendants can later ask the court to decertify the collective once discovery is complete.
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What the Servers and Bartenders Allege
The operative Third Amended Collective Action Complaint, filed February 2, 2024, says Olive Garden used the federal tip credit to pay tipped workers a cash wage of about $2.13 an hour while failing to meet the conditions that come with it. The judge’s order summarizes four alleged violations:- Deficient tip-credit notice: workers allegedly were not properly told the cash wage amount, how much of their pay came from the tip credit, that they keep all their tips, and that the credit does not apply without that notice.
- Uniform costs: workers allegedly had to buy required shirts, pants, belts and specialized shoes, which the complaint says pushed their wages below the tipped minimum.
- Unrelated work at the tipped rate: the complaint lists making salads, baking bread, cutting fruit, vacuuming, washing dishes, scraping gum from under tables and deep-cleaning the restaurant.
- Excessive side work: workers allegedly spent more than 20% of their time, or more than 30 minutes in a row, on non-tipped tasks such as rolling silverware, restocking, filling ice and brewing tea and coffee.
The named plaintiffs worked at Olive Garden restaurants in Illinois and Tennessee. Supporting declarations came from workers at locations in six states, and the plaintiffs also pointed to company-wide handbooks, job descriptions and training guides.
What Olive Garden Says
The defendants told the court that their tip-credit notice complies with the FLSA, that they do not take the tip credit for work done before a restaurant opens, that servers are paid the full minimum wage while assembling salads, and that bartenders are paid the full minimum wage starting 30 minutes after closing. The judge treated those points as merits defenses that can be decided later for the whole group, not as reasons to deny certification.The defendants also opposed a nationwide collective and asked the court to limit the look-back period to two years. The judge rejected both requests at this stage, noting that whether any violation was willful, which affects the three-year period, is a question for later in the case.
Who Is in the Collective
The order defines the collective as all current and former servers and bartenders who worked at an Olive Garden restaurant operated by the defendants, were paid an hourly rate below the standard minimum wage during the three-year period before the Third Amended Complaint was filed (and since), and did not sign an arbitration agreement with the defendants. The plaintiffs told the court they do not seek to include workers in states that bar employers from taking a tip credit.According to a declaration from the defendants cited in the order, Olive Garden takes the tip credit for 46,098 servers and bartenders. Fewer than 900 workers had joined the original litigation. The defendants say most of the remaining workers have signed arbitration agreements, and those workers cannot join this case.
How an FLSA Collective Action Works
A collective action under 29 U.S.C. § 216(b) differs from a typical class action. In a Rule 23 class action, people who fit the class definition are included unless they opt out. In an FLSA collective action, a worker is part of the case only after filing a written consent form with the court. Courts in the First Circuit use a two-step process: a lenient first look at whether workers are similarly situated, followed by a closer review after discovery, when a defendant can move to decertify.The statute of limitations for FLSA claims is generally two years, or three years for a willful violation, and for collective actions it is measured for each worker from the date that worker’s consent is filed. In this case, the order notes that the defendants agreed to toll the limitations period for potential opt-ins while the arbitration questions were sorted out, and that the tolling agreement was reconfirmed at conferences in 2024 and 2025.
Background: How the Case Got Here
The claims began in Despres v. Olive Garden Holdings, LLC, No. 4:23-cv-10013, filed in 2023 in the same court. After the defendants moved to compel arbitration, the court directed that workers without arbitration agreements proceed in a separate case. Their claims were severed into the Kappler action, and the Despres case was stayed pending arbitration. The plaintiffs are represented by Hodges & Foty, LLP and the Law Office of Arnold J. Lizana III, P.C.What Happens Next
The judge denied the plaintiffs’ proposed notice and consent form without prejudice so the parties could work out the defendants’ objections. Within 14 days of the October 16 order, the parties must confer and file a joint proposed notice if they agree. If they do not, the plaintiffs may renew their motion and the defendants will have 14 days to respond. The court will then set the notice process and any deadline for filing consent forms. The order indicates the notice can tell recipients that workers who agreed to arbitrate are not eligible to join.OpenClassActions.com will update this page when the court approves the notice and sets an opt-in period.
Questions
Is there an Olive Garden tip credit settlement?
There is no settlement and no payment. On October 16, 2026 the court conditionally certified an FLSA collective action, which only allows court-approved notice to be sent to eligible servers and bartenders. Olive Garden has not been found liable, and it disputes the claims.
Who is in the conditionally certified Olive Garden collective?
The order defines the collective as current and former servers and bartenders who worked at an Olive Garden restaurant operated by the defendants, were paid an hourly rate below the standard minimum wage during the three years before February 2, 2024 and afterward, and did not sign an arbitration agreement with the defendants. Workers in states that do not allow employers to take a tip credit are not part of it.
How is an FLSA collective action different from a class action?
In a Rule 23 class action, people who fit the class definition are included automatically unless they opt out. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 216(b), a worker becomes part of a collective action only by filing a written consent with the court. Conditional certification is the step that lets the court authorize notice so eligible workers learn about the case.
What is the tip credit?
Federal law lets an employer pay tipped workers a cash wage as low as $2.13 an hour and count their tips toward the $7.25 federal minimum wage. Federal rules attach conditions to that credit, including giving workers specific notice and limiting how much non-tipped work can be paid at the reduced rate. Some states set higher cash wages or ban the tip credit altogether.
What about Olive Garden workers who signed arbitration agreements?
They are excluded from this collective. Their claims were split into a separate case, Despres v. Olive Garden Holdings, LLC, No. 4:23-cv-10013 (D. Mass.), which the court stayed while arbitration goes forward. The defendants told the court that most of the servers and bartenders it pays using the tip credit have agreed to arbitration.
Sources
- Kappler v. Olive Garden Holdings, LLC — docket, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts (CourtListener)
- Memorandum & Order granting conditional certification, October 16, 2026 (CourtListener)
- Third Amended Collective Action Complaint, February 2, 2024 (CourtListener)
- U.S. Department of Labor — Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the FLSA
