MO Senator Ben Brown Sued Again for Violating Minimum Wage Law

It’s the second lawsuit against the GOP politician and owner of Satchmo’s Bar and Grill

Oct 26, 2023 at 10:23 am

Missouri State Senator Ben Brown at the 2022 Hazlitt Summit hosted by the Young Americans for Liberty Foundation.

A second person is now suing a Missouri state senator saying he failed to pay the wages required by law to employees of his Chesterfield restaurant.

Before being elected to the Missouri Senate in 2022, Ben Brown (R-Washington) entered the public fray surrounding pandemic lockdowns in late 2020 when his Satchmo's Bar and Grill refused to close for indoor dining before being shut down by county health inspectors. Brown rode his defiance of St. Louis County Executive Sam Page to his spot in Jefferson City.

However, earlier this year, a man who worked for Satchmo's from June until August, filed a lawsuit in St. Louis County Circuit Court. Willie Williams claimed he was bilked out of his overtime pay and was fired when he asked his bosses about it.

Yesterday, a very similar suit was filed by Amber Beem, who says that she started working for Satchmo's this past July, first as an expediter and later as a dishwasher as well. Despite being told she would be making between $100 and $150 a night in tips, she only received tip money on two occasions.

She also alleges she earned $14 an hour, despite being promised she'd earn $16 an hour up to 40 hours a week and then $24 an hour for overtime. Entire days that she worked "disappeared" from her timesheet, her suit says.

She quit working for the restaurant in September and never got her final paycheck, the suit says.

Beem, like Williams before her, is suing to recover the wages she feels she's owed. Both former employees accuse Brown of violating Missouri’s minimum wage law as well as breach of contract. Both are represented by Richard Voytas, an attorney in St. Louis.