News Article

'Cheater' Flay dishes out 800G

New York Post - Bruce Golding

Published: March 04, 2010

Celebrity chef Bobby Flay has agreed to fork over $800,000 to settle claims that staffers at his Southwestern-style restaurants were cheated out of wages and tips.

The pot of cash -- minus more than $250,000 for lawyers' fees -- is set to be ladled out to servers, bartenders, bussers and runners who worked at Flay's Bar Americain in Midtown, Mesa Grill on lower Fifth Avenue and the now-defunct Bolo Bar & Restaurant in the Flatiron District between January 2003 and last September.

The Food Network star denies any wrongdoing but decided to pay up rather than go to trial, according to papers filed yesterday in Manhattan federal court.

Federal Judge Deborah Batts has scheduled a June 22 hearing to consider approving the deal.