Credit: Roger Wong/INSTARimages
Leva Bonaparte‘s Charleston hotspot, Republic Garden & Lounge, the base location for Bravo’s Southern Hospitality, is facing a new lawsuit from a former bartender.
According to the lawsuit, the 47-year-old Southern Charm alum and her husband, Lamar Bonaparte, 50, who was named as the registered agent for Republic Reign LLC, are being accused of operating an “unlawful tip pool,” failing to pay their employees minimum wage, and violating the Fair Labor Standards Act at their venue by a woman named Angelica Alberti, who worked at Republic from May 12, 2025, through November 2, 2025.
As noted by a June 14 report from Post and Courier, Angelica, who filed the lawsuit in federal court in June on behalf of herself and other bartenders, worked 30 hours per week, and she was paid $2.13 per hour plus tips.
In South Carolina, laws require establishments to pay their employees as little as $2.13 per hour, as long as the tips they make bring their total hourly wage up to at least $7.25 per hour. Tip pools are also legal. However, according to federal law, restaurant and bar owners are prohibited “from keeping any portion of employees’ tips for any purpose, whether directly or through a tip pool,” and they must fully distribute all collected tips.
In Angelica’s lawsuit, she alleged that she and others were required to share tips with managers and supervisors, and that they were not informed that credit card fees were deducted. She also claimed she and other bartenders made less than minimum wage.
“Absent proper tip-credit notice, the Defendant was not eligible to take a tip credit for any hours worked by Plaintiff or other Bartenders. This entitled them to the full federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for each such hour,” the lawsuit said.
In response, attorney Nancy Bloodgood, who is representing Republic in the case, denied the allegations against the venue and labeled them “baseless.” She also shared that Angelica had been fired and “[had] been paid all the wages she was entitled to at the time of her termination.”
Angelica and her fellow plaintiffs are seeking recovery of all tips given to ineligible parties, including managers and supervisors, missed federal minimum wages, and “unlawfully retained tips.”