Illegal Restaurant Tip Pools

Many restaurants operate tip pools where a number employees, such as food runners and bussers, share in server or bartender tips. Tip pools can be legal, but sometimes restaurants illegally include back-of-the-house employees such as cooks, dishwashers, and janitors.  Even bar backs who have insufficient customer interaction may be improperly included in bartender tips.  Some restaurants also illegally allow The Fair Labor Standards Act prohibits this type of tip theft, and provides protections for server and bartender tips.  If you…

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Digital Wage Theft Is a Common Violation in America

Wage theft is the failure to pay workers the full wage amount to which they are entitled.  According to a recent report by the Economic Policy Institute, wage theft is a $15 billion problem in the United States.  Wage theft can take many forms such as failing to pay workers the legally required minimum wage, failing to pay overtime wages of time-and-one-half to nonexempt workers, off-the-clock violations, deducting for meal breaks an employee works through, making deductions from tipped employee…

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