In a striking legal move, a former employee has taken on a well-known restaurant chain, alleging widespread labor violations. Edgar Espino filed a class action complaint against TKS Restaurants, LLC and TKS Restaurants, Inc. in the Superior Court of California for the County of Santa Clara on March 7, 2025. The lawsuit accuses the restaurant chain of multiple violations of the California Labor Code.
Edgar Espino claims that during his employment from March to November 2023 at one of the defendant's locations in Irvine, California, he was subjected to numerous labor law violations. Espino alleges that he and other employees were not paid for all hours worked, including overtime and minimum wages. "Defendants willfully failed to pay all overtime wages owed," states the complaint, citing violations of California Labor Code sections 510 and 1198. Furthermore, Espino argues that employees were often required to work off-the-clock due to understaffing and restrictive timekeeping policies which discouraged recording hours outside scheduled shifts.
The complaint details how these practices allegedly resulted in missed meal and rest periods for employees. It accuses TKS Restaurants of failing to provide uninterrupted meal breaks as mandated by law and instead implementing blanket meal period waivers that discouraged employees from taking their entitled breaks. "Plaintiff’s meal periods were interrupted because he was required to return to the cash registers," notes the filing, illustrating how operational demands took precedence over legal requirements.
Espino is seeking damages exceeding $25,000 for unpaid wages and penalties while also demanding injunctive relief to prevent further unlawful practices by TKS Restaurants. The lawsuit aims to certify this case as a class action representing all similarly affected non-exempt hourly employees in California who have worked for the defendants within four years prior to this filing.
Representing Edgar Espino are attorneys Roxanna Tabatabaeepour, Ryan Tish, and Alexander Wallin from Capstone Law APC based in Los Angeles. The case is being overseen by Judge M. Arechiga under Case No.: 25CV460590.