Lawsuit accuses Lafayette pizza owner of tip theft

LAFAYETTE — A former employee of Martino’s Pizzeria is suing the restaurant and its owner, who is accused of improperly including himself in a tip pool meant for workers. 

Cullen McGinnis, in a complaint filed this month in Boulder County District Court, alleges that Martino’s owner Martin Vacco II regularly helped “employees with preparing food and serving customers,” and “would include himself in the employee tip pool for all shifts that he was present at the restaurant.”

The restaurant ownership “had a policy or practice of stealing tips by wrongfully including Vacco in the tip pool and stealing a portion of the…