54-year-old SF restaurant hit with class-action lawsuit

An iconic 54-year-old seafood restaurant on San Francisco’s waterfront has been hit with a class-action lawsuit. On Nov. 6, Savita Bayram filed a lawsuit against The Bundox Restaurant Corp., the corporation behind Waterfront Restaurant, alleging “an unlawful, unfair and deceptive business practice.” 

Bayram was an employee of The Bundox Restaurant Corp. from July 2022 to November 2022 and filed the lawsuit on behalf of herself and all individuals who are or previously were employed by the corporation in the past four years. The lawsuit alleges failure to pay minimum wages, failure to pay overtime and sick wages, failure to provide required meal breaks and rest periods, wrongful termination and other violations.

Bayram alleges that she was wrongfully terminated after Waterfront Restaurant’s owner Cheryl Falchi berated her for attempting to drink some water during her shift. In an “insane outburst” witnessed by the entire kitchen staff and one server on Oct. 30, 2022, Falchi instructed Bayram to clock out to take the sip of water, the lawsuit alleges.

After Bayram informed Falchi that she was entitled to a pair of 10-minute rest breaks during her shifts, despite allegedly never having received a rest break during her employment, “Mrs. Falchi continued harassing and sarcastically undermining PLAINTIFF by saying, ‘oh yeah, I forgot, you work so hard that you need multiple breaks,’ before Mrs. Falchi began laughing and further mocking PLAINTIFF,” read the lawsuit. Bayram alleges she was terminated on Nov. 4, 2022 after being informed “she wasn’t a good fit.”

The lawsuit also alleges that employees were sometimes required to work for more than five hours without receiving a meal break, and sometimes were not given a second meal break while working a 10-hour shift. Employees were also allegedly sometimes required to work more than four hours without being provided a 10-minute rest break. 

The lawsuit is seeking compensation for employees’ lost earnings and attorneys’ fees, along with punitive damages and a restraining order barring The Bundox Restaurant Corp. from engaging in similar unlawful conduct. Bayram’s lawyer Nicholas J. De Blouw declined to comment to SFGATE on the lawsuit beyond writing in an email, “We will let the Complaint and its allegations speak for itself.”

SFGATE did not hear back from Waterfront Restaurant in time for publication.