As burdensome regulations continue to negatively impact small businesses, members of the restaurant industry, including the National Restaurant Association, have joined together to form the Restaurant Law Center. The new Center will provide legal advocacy on behalf of the restaurant industry to fight against overregulation on a local, state, and federal level.

One of the first cases the Restaurant Law Center will manage is Oregon Restaurant and Lodging, et al v. Perez, et al. The Restaurant Law Center will file a Petition of Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court on January 19, 2017. The case challenges the U.S. Department of Labor’s determination that bars restaurants that do not take a tip credit from allowing front of the house staff to share tips with back of the house staff. The case was recently rated one of the top five employment cases to watch in 2017 by Law360. 

“The restaurant industry has been participating in legal battles on behalf of restaurant owners and employees for years,” says Angelo Amador, executive director of the Restaurant Law Center. “But as these fights become more and more prevalent, we must have the legal means and an apparatus to push back against outside groups that threaten the jobs and economic growth the restaurant industry creates, as well as to protect and advance the industry. The Restaurant Law Center will streamline the industry’s ability to engage in legal proceedings and to seek just outcomes.”

“As well-funded special interest groups continue to use the courts to enact policy, it is imperative that the second-largest private sector employer in the country have our voice heard,” says Jay Stieber, chairman of the board for the Restaurant Law Center. “Restaurants are America’s job training ground and one of the few careers that don’t require a four-year college degree in order to achieve the American Dream. But restaurants continue to be threatened by overregulation on a local, state, and federal level and by activist judges with little to no understanding of the industry. The Restaurant Law Center will give us an opportunity to fight back against attacks on the industry and work through the courts to promote pro-growth laws and regulations that will help create jobs and grow the economy.”