Vasquez v. Sliders Restaurant Group, LLC

Syllabus

The plaintiff, who had been employed as a server at a restaurant owned and operated by the defendants, appealed from the trial court's judgment grant- ing the defendants' motion to strike her putative class action complaint. The plaintiff claimed that the defendants had improperly deducted tip credits from her earnings and paid her and other similarly situated employees less than the minimum wage for the performance of nonservice work under the applicable wage regulation (§ 31-62-E4) in effect in 2015. Held: The trial court properly granted the defendants' motion to strike, as the court correctly determined that the legislature's amendment (P.A. 22-134) to the statute (§ 31-60) governing minimum wages and gratuities did not retroactively take away the plaintiff's cause of action under the Connecticut Minimum Wage Act (General Statutes § 31-58 et seq.) or violate due process, and, as this court's conclusion in the companion case of Farias v. Rodriguez (238 Conn. App. 287) thoroughly resolved the plaintiff's claims, this court adopted the reasoning and conclusions in that decision. Argued November 13, 2025—officially released March 31, 2026