A Superior Court jury has ruled that operators of the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in Windsor Locks violated Connecticut's General Statutes. It found the hotel should have paid one of its bartenders the full minimum wage, as opposed to a lower service wage for hours worked.

In rendering its July 3 verdict after three hours of deliberations, the six-person jury said the hotel's Shade Bar and Grill was wrong when it paid former bartender Danelle Martin $8.23 an hour for nonservice work, instead of the $10.10 hourly minimum wage.

The jury's verdict means hotel operators, United Capital Corp. and AFP Management Corp., now owe the 32-year-old Windsor Locks resident two years of back wages plus penalties.

Hartford Superior Court Judge Kevin Dubay is scheduled to determine what those damages are, but Richard Hayber of The Hayber Law Firm in Hartford, told the Connecticut Law Tribune he believes Martin is owed about $28,000 plus interest.

Hayber, who is Martin's attorney, said his client performed upward of two hours per shift on nonservice work for which she was not paid the full minimum wage. According to an Oct. 30 amended complaint filed in Hartford Superior Court, Martin performed such nonservice duties as preparing the bar, restocking, vacuuming and cleaning the kitchen.

Martin resigned from her job in April 2017, after seven years.

Hayber said the jury found the hotel failed to segregate service work from nonservice work, which violates state law. In addition, the issue of a “tip credit” also took center stage, Hayber said. A tip credit is the reduction in the minimum wage for service employees on account of tips received.

“The story here, for me, is the instructions to the jury by the judge,” Hayber said. “It's about the jury adopting the state Department of Labor regulations as law.”

The judge, Hayber said, instructed the jury that an employer may not use a tip credit on a service employee unless several rules are followed.

“First, service employees must be allowed to keep all of their tips and may not be required to share tips with other workers,” Hayber said. “Second, the restaurant must obtain signed weekly tip statements and, third, the establishment must segregate nonservice work from service work and pay at full minimum wage.”

Hayber, a law employment attorney for 15 years, suggested the ruling is a warning for other businesses, because it's his belief that “many restaurants violate at least one of these three rules.”

Defense counsel, Emanuel Kataev and Jamie Felsen of New York-based Milman Labuda Law Group, did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday. And Johan Liebenberg, the hotel's general manager, also did not respond to a request for comment.

The defense argued the hotel operators were not required to obtain weekly tip statements because their computer system contained evidence of Martin's tips. They also argued her nonservice work was related to her service work, and, therefore did not require the full minimum wage.

“They lost on both arguments,” Hayber said.

The defense has 30 days to file an appeal after the judge rules on how much Martin is owed.