Slutty Vegan Faces Federal Wage Theft Lawsuit In Brooklyn

FORT GREENE, NY — The hottest vegan restaurant group in the country has landed in the boiling waters of Brooklyn federal court, where workers filed a lawsuit this month accusing the eatery of taking their pay.

The Slutty Vegan outpost in Fort Greene is the target of a new suit from three workers who say their paychecks were miscalculated, overtime evaded and promised bonuses never paid, court records show.

This is the second of such federal lawsuits tied to founder Pinky Cole, who appeared this week in The New Yorker and heads the Atlanta-based vegan chain valued at a hundred million dollars.

Patch was unable to reach Slutty Vegan for comment, but Cole denied claims of unpaid wages and withheld tips at Atlanta's Bar Vegan in January.

"What do I gain withholding someone’s hard earned money when my blessings overflow everyday?" Cole wrote on Instagram. "I don’t lie, I don’t steal and more importantly, I DON’T PLAY WITH PEOPLE’S MONEY."

Yet three Brooklyn workers — a trainer, a general manager and an assistant manager — contend the eatery failed to pay them an estimated tens of thousands of dollars.

Branden Cook — who worked at the restaurant as a certified trainer in 2022 and 2023 —said his hourly wage fluctuated between $16.50 and $17.50, overtime was denied him and work uniform expenses fell on him to pay.

Cook was required to wear his company polo to work five days a week, but was only provided two shirts, the lawsuit contends.

Davaughn Clarke and Latoya Adams, hired as a Senior Assistant General Manager and Assistant General Manager in May 2022, contend they were promised bonuses that never appeared, misclassified as non-exempt employees and given responsibilities outside of their roles.

"Defendants knowingly and willfully operated their business with a policy of not providing all non-exempt employees proper wage notices at the time of hiring and annually thereafter," the claim states.

The lawsuit does not estimate the total sum withheld, as it depends on complex overtime law and Slutty Vegan's calculation process, but it does provide specifics on quarterly bonuses two workers say they were promised when hired in May, but never received.

Patch calculates the promised bonuses, as described in the lawsuit, tally roughly to more than $27,000 in total. Their lawyer declined to comment on the story.

This lawsuit arrives as Slutty Vegan — which has six successful locations in Atlanta and one in Alabama — begins its expansion across New York City.

The chain serves plant-based sandwiches with catchy names such as "Dancehall Queen," "Hollywood Hooker" and "Super Slut."

Slutty Vegan opened a Harlem outpost in March just months after its anticipated Brooklyn opening shut down Fort Greene with a well-attended block party.

In 2022, Cole received $25 million from an investment group that includes Shake Shack's Danny Meyer, fueling a nationwide expansion that aims for 20 new locations by the end of this year.

Update: Slutty Vegan's press representatives responded to Patch's request for comment Thursday with a statement they asked by published in full. It is as follows:

"Slutty Vegan is deeply committed to creating a positive and supportive work environment for all of its employees, and takes the wellbeing of its staff very seriously. Slutty Vegan takes its legal obligations seriously, and especially those relating to its staff. It maintains an open door policy and invites employees to express their concerns with management so that they can be examined and resolved in a fair, reasonable and lawful manner. We are aware of the lawsuit recently filed in the U.S. District Court in New York, and are reviewing it with our legal counsel. Slutty Vegan does not comment on any pending litigation, except that it is committed to complying with all applicable laws. Slutty Vegan is passionately dedicated to making a positive impact, not only with respect to its employees and customers, but also within the communities it serves."