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State Court Upholds Bay Area Hooters Servers' Lawsuit

OAKLAND (CBS / AP) -- A state appeals court has upheld a class-action lawsuit filed by servers at several San Francisco Bay area Hooters restaurants.

The 1st District Court of Appeal this week denied a request by the restaurants' owners that the case be settled through arbitration.

The court ruled that the owners' employment agreement allowed them to seek arbitration. But it agreed with a lower court that they waited too long to demand arbitration.

The lawsuit claims the Hooters' servers were cheated out of tip money, forced to purchase their own uniforms and not given proper lunch breaks among other violations.

It covers employees who worked at Hooters restaurants in Fremont, Campbell and Dublin and the now-closed Hooters in San Francisco.

A call to the owners' attorney, Matthew Ruggles, on Saturday was not immediately returned.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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