No Tip for You

Tuesday, 13 September 2011 | by Pat's Picks

A New York City restaurant is being accused of “tip discrimination” reports the New York Daily News this morning. Apparently, Baluchi’s Indian Restaurant imposes an 18 percent gratuity on certain checks. But it’s not on parties of six or more—it’s on customers of Southeast Asian descent. Noticing the surcharge was added to their bill and not to the bill of other diners, two Southeast Asian men confronted the waitstaff at a Queens branch of the restaurant. After the men were allegedly punched and spat on by the staff, the plaintiffs say the restaurant’s manager copped to “a policy of automatically including a gratuity on the bills if Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi customers because ‘they never tip.’”