One of Manhattan’s most expensive restaurants has been forced to pay its waiting staff 500.000 dollars in court, after the New York General Attorney ruled it had illegally withheld their tips. ‘Thomas Keller’s Per Se’, where one has to shelve out $310 just to taste the menu, reached a settlement with its workers following a 2013 investigation that revealed the management had pocketed a 20% service charge on customers’ bills over a 21-month period. Instead of ending up in the waiting staff’s pockets, these service fees were used for operational costs.