Salt Bae Accused Of Stiffing Employee At Dallas Restaurant

A Turkish restaurateur turned social media star is accused of underpaying his steakhouse employees.

Nusret Gökçe (aka Salt Bae) has several high-end restaurants around the world that are known for selling $1000 steaks covered in gold leaf. Now, five grill men from Saltbae Burger restaurant in New York and the Nusr-Et Steakhouses in New York, Miami, and Dallas filed a lawsuit that says he didn't pay them overtime, the NY Post reported.

In the suit, plaintiffs Ersel Ok, Muhammet Yilmaz, Emre Isler, Eyyup Yeniceri, and Ibrahim Gecit say they all worked at Gökçe's restaurant in Istanbul, Turkey, when they were recruited to work at the U.S. locations.

The men's visa and employment paperwork labeled them as managers to “misclassify Plaintiffs as exempt and avoid paying them overtime wages," reads the suit.

Despite being called managers, the men did low-level tasks like taking out the garbage, washing dishes, cleaning toilets, and running various errands.

The men were only paid a flat salary of $1,125 a week despite regularly working 72 hours a week. If they weren't labeled as managers, they would make 1.5 times their hourly wage if working over 40 hours a week.

The suit also claims Salt Bae personally knew about the situation because he supervised the men.

“Gokce had an aggressive managerial style, frequently cursing at Plaintiffs and blaming them for other employees’ mistakes,” the suit states.

This is not the first time legal action has been brought against the Bae. A Dallas contractor sued him for not paying for work done at the Dallas restaurant.