21 Club Gets Served

It's a real numbers game: More than 30 current employees have brought a class-action lawsuit against the 21 Club (at 21 West 57th St.) for withholding a portion of the 21.75 percent service fee charged to banquet parties (workers claim they only received 18 percent of the money) — with more than 50 employees involved over a 6-year span the amount of missing mula might add up to $1 million.

As if it wasn't enough that the 21 Club lifted its long-held tie-only policy for diners this year, now it turns out the management are crooks. The legendary restaurant, once the haunt of the likes of James Thurber, Harold Ross, Dorothy Parker and Robert Benchley, is now the home of slobs and thieves — well, at least if you asked some of the servers who have toiled at the swanky spot for decades. In truth, friction between management and employees over gratuities is standard in New York and there are currently cases pending against the Central Park Boathouse, Masa, and Chelsea Piers over the same issue brought to light by the 21 Club charges. With the ties gone, the restaurant better get used to a different kind of suit.

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