Avidor

Plaintiff Haim Avidor (plaintiff) is the lead plaintiff in this class action by current and former card dealers employed by defendant Sutter’s Place, Inc., doing business as Bay 101 (often abbreviated by the parties as Bay 101 or the casino), which operated a cardroom in San Jose. Bay 101 required its dealers to contribute a set amount of the gratuities they received from players to a common account, which was distributed to other casino employees each payday. In this action plaintiff has contended that Bay 101 violated Labor Code section 351 by compelling its dealers to participate in this tip-pooling arrangement, thereby creating a cause of action for unfair business practices under Business and Professions Code section 17200 et seq. Plaintiff further contends that this withholding of the dealers’ property amounted to violations of the minimum wage law (Lab. Code, § 1197), conversion, and the common count of money had and received. Because we disagree with plaintiff’s interpretations of the statutory language applicable to the casino’s tip-pooling arrangement, we must affirm the judgment in Bay 101’s favor.

Background

There were two sides to Bay 101’s gaming…