ALBANY (AP) - New York's top court ruled Feb. 14 that employees of a Manhattan luxury-dining fleet can proceed with a lawsuit to recover tips that they claim were illegally withheld from them.

A group of employees of World Yacht sued the company, alleging that it didn't give employees money collected as either service charges for large parties or gratuities included in the price of a ticket for dining cruises.

World Yacht had argued that the banquet industry was exempt from state labor laws requiring employers to pass on to workers any payments that customers understand to be tips. A state Appellate Division panel ruled last March that the company is only required to share voluntary tips with workers - not those charged automatically.

The New York Court of Appeals overturned that decision, saying that the company represented the charge as gratuities and that they must be treated as such.

It is illegal for an employer to "retain any part of a gratuity or ... any charge purported to be a gratuity for an employee," Associate Judge Hon. Carmen Beauchamp wrote in the ruling issued last week.

At the same time, the court upheld the lower court's dismissal of claims that World Yacht engaged in deceptive consumer practices.