Q: Is it legal for employer to take tips as a punishment for minimum wage employee?
We keep tips and divide out every other week between pay periods and employer is taking tips because of item deletions and using them to buy espresso shots for company contest.
A: Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employers are permitted to use a tip pooling system, where tipped employees "pool" the total amount of tips received. Employers may require employees to pool their tips together and redistribute the funds according to a pre-established formula, but the employer is not permitted to participate in the pool by retaining any portion of tipped employees' tips or otherwise take employees' tips for any other use.
A: Tips are always the property of the employee. The only deduction an employer can make is for the ACTUAL cost of a credit card transaction. As stated by Rhiannon below, even under a lawful tip pooling arrangement, the employer cannot retain tips for the reasons you have provided. Contact a wage and hour attorney to see what your options are.
Justia Ask a Lawyer is a forum for consumers to get answers to basic legal questions. Any information sent through Justia Ask a Lawyer is not secure and is done so on a non-confidential basis only.
The use of this website to ask questions or receive answers does not create an attorney–client relationship between you and Justia, or between you and any attorney who receives your information or responds to your questions, nor is it intended to create such a relationship. Additionally, no responses on this forum constitute legal advice, which must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case. You should not act upon information provided in Justia Ask a Lawyer without seeking professional counsel from an attorney admitted or authorized to practice in your jurisdiction. Justia assumes no responsibility to any person who relies on information contained on or received through this site and disclaims all liability in respect to such information.
Justia cannot guarantee that the information on this website (including any legal information provided by an attorney through this service) is accurate, complete, or up-to-date. While we intend to make every attempt to keep the information on this site current, the owners of and contributors to this site make no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of the information contained in or linked to from this site.
