Ritz-Carlton faces lawsuit regarding service fees.

Earlier this month, eight banquet servers filed a class action lawsuit against the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Boston, MA. They claim that the hotel violated Massachusetts state wage and hour laws. The employees stated that the Ritz-Carlton collects a 21.5 percent mandatory service charge on all banquet events. However, banquet servers only receive 14.5 percent of this service charge.

The plaintiffs claim that this was illegal under Massachusetts law, which requires that all tips, gratuities, and services charges that are added to customer bills to be distributed directly to service staff. Managers and non-service staff are prohibited from receiving tip outs from this money.

Similar legal cases have been filed against restaurants, clubs, and other hotels in the last several years.