Illegal tip sharing is at the heart of a unpaid wages lawsuit filed by two Red Robin restaurant servers in Pennsylvania. Their suit claims that the restaurant tip sharing scheme was illegal, because it required servers to share their tips with kitchen workers, who are ordinarily non--tipped workers. Servers at the restaurant are paid $2.83 per hour to $3.33 per hour with the "tip credit" making up the difference (at least theoretically) between that amount and the minimum wage, which is presently $7.25 per hour. Their suit claims that the "tip credit" should not be applied, because the tip sharing scheme was illegal.
Source: Lehigh Valley Morning Call
A tip pool is o.k. if it includes only employees that customarily receive tips such as waiters, servers, bartenders, etc. The federal Department of Labor has made clear that a tip pool including non-tipped workers is illegal: Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Lexington, Kentucky unpaid wages and overtime lawyer Robert Abell represents individuals and employees seeking to recover the wages and overtime they have earned but not been paid; contact him at 859-254-7076.
