Shaheen & Gordon welcomes Maria Hyde to the firm
Shaheen & Gordon, P.A., has welcomed Attorney Maria T. Hyde to the firm’s litigation and business law groups. She is based out of the firm’s Dover office, providing legal services across the state.
Hyde will represent individual and business clients in a range of civil and commercial matters in state and federal court. She leverages creative solutions to resolve matters through negotiation when possible but is adept at trial strategy when needed to achieve a client’s goals.
Prior to entering private practice, Hyde worked for the New Hampshire and Missouri State Public Defenders, where she managed high caseloads and gained significant trial experience representing individuals through the complex criminal justice system.
“Maria is a great addition to our team,” says Sean O’Connell, chair of the Business Law Group at Shaheen & Gordon. “Her multi-state career allows her to bring a unique perspective to New Hampshire. With her experience, she will hit the ground running and allow our firm to assist more people throughout this state.”
Hyde is admitted to practice in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Colorado, Missouri and Illinois.
Brewery owner: Misused word at core of wage investigation
The owner of Pipe Dream Brewing says the wrong word used in its credit charge payment system led to a federal investigation involving withheld tips and wages of its employees.
On Tuesday, July 9, the U.S. Department of Labor announced it had recovered $456,297 in back wages and withheld tips and a matching amount in liquidated damages from the brewery – amounting to $912,000.
The brewery was accused of illegally keeping its workers’ credit card tips, denying overtime wages and violating federal law for the types of employees who can receive pooled tips. Pipe Dream Brewing agreed to pay $5,148 in a fine for tip-related violations.
Pipe Dream Brewing is a West Coast-inspired brewery and taproom offering 28 beers made on-site. It’s been in operation since 2016.
John Bacheller, who owns the brewery at 49 Harvey Road with co-owner Jon Young, said the term “tip” was being input in its payment system when they should have used “service charge.”
“What we did was wrong, but it wasn’t malicious,” Bacheller said. “It was for lack of a better word, just ignorance. We didn’t know that we couldn’t use the word tip.”
In October, state and federal investigators looked into a customer’s social media post which questioned the brewery’s tipping policy after asking a bartender what happens to credit card tips.
Pipe Dream Brewing intended to implement a service charge to benefit all staff, not only the ones providing table service, and have tips split equally, the owner said. The tip pool benefited the bartenders, cooks, dishwashers, beer brewers and other employees who worked behind the scenes.
The idea behind the service charge was also to ensure employees could earn higher wages than industry standards at the brewery and receive health care benefits, Bacheller said. The service charge was improperly labeled as “tips” in the payment system when customers paid their bills.
There was an understanding and transparency among employees and the employer about its tipping process, according to a statement from Pipe Dream Brewing.
Bacheller said the brewery is not a restaurant and felt a tip pool was a fair solution for providing equal tips for all employees. Some businesses have added service charges to their bills to be able to offer employees better wages and pay their health insurance. Bacheller added he felt his employees were happy with the tipping system and working at the brewery and hadn’t heard otherwise.
The brewery pays its workers up to $24 an hour, he added. Full-time employees received health insurance benefits along with quarterly bonuses from the credit card service charge, which was improperly labeled as “tips” in the POS system.
“We were wrong because we used the word ‘tips’ on our point-of-sale purchase,” Bacheller said. “But our employees weren’t receiving minimum wages.”
Since the investigation, the issue has been corrected in the brewery’s sales system and has changed to be labeled as a service charge, not tip. Every bill now at Pipe Dream Brewing gets a service charge.
“Pipe Dream never intended to mislead any customers or employees, and for this, we sincerely apologize,” the company’s statement read. “And now, we are using the right words.” — Angelina Berube, Eagle Tribune
