The legality of a given employee’s participation in a tip pool under the FLSA turns on whether the participants are “Tipped employees” under 29 U.S.C. § 203(t). The specific question is whether they “engaged in an occupation in which [they] customarily and regularly receive[] more than $ 30 a month in tips.” A new decision … Continue Reading
As the debate over the minimum wage and the role tip income should play in satisfying the minimum wage obligation for tipped employees continues on the federal and state level, a restaurant in Minnesota recently joined the fray. Rather than raise prices gradually in response to the recent increase to the Minnesota state minimum wage, … Continue Reading
On Monday, New York Commissioner of Labor Peter Rivera formally issued his Charge to the recently convened 2014 Wage Board. The Charge, available here, asks the Board to answer the following question: What modifications, if any, should be made to the required cash wage rates and the allowable credits for tips, meals, and lodging, for … Continue Reading
Demoralized by the attendant costs of litigation and a shifting compliance environment in numerous jurisdictions, many hospitality industry employers have resolved wage-and-hour lawsuits brought in New York City and elsewhere over the last number of years. Bucking this trend, one such employer recently successfully defended its wage practices at trial. Mendez v. Int’l Food House, … Continue Reading
In cases challenging participation of food service workers other than the quintessential roles with which most diners are familiar (e.g., server/waiter, busboy, etc.) in tip sharing/pooling/splitting arrangements, some courts focus on whether the position lacked sufficient direct customer interaction to warrant receipt of tips. See generally Kilgore v. Outback Steakhouse, 160 F.3d 294, 301 (6th … Continue Reading
Presumably ending the long-running litigation regarding whether certain Massachusetts skycaps’ common law claims challenging the imposition of a $2 curbside baggage handling fee that allegedly caused a reduction in tips are preempted, the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal of the First Circuit’s 2013 decision finding those claims preempted by the Airline … Continue Reading
Despite encountering strong opposition to its proposals to raise the federal minimum wage and rewrite the Department of Labor regulations defining the exemptions from overtime under the FLSA, the White House is now requesting Congress raise the minimum wage for “tipped” employees. Through a report released last week, the President argues that the minimum wage … Continue Reading
A Nevada federal court’s decision is consistent with other recent federal court decisions holding that an employee has no claim for allegedly misappropriated gratuities under § 203(m) of the FLSA if no tip credit is taken and the employee receives the full minimum wage before tips, as the FLSA does not create a property right … Continue Reading
Providing guidance on some longstanding ambiguity regarding the meaning of Nevada’s statute on tip pooling, Nevada’s highest court ruled that an employer may impose mandatory tip pooling on employees and determine to which employees tips may be distributed. The Wynn casino’s tip pooling policy, which was reviewed by the Court and required pooled tips to be … Continue Reading
Joining several other recent federal court decisions, including a decision invalidating recently promulgated Department of Labor regulations purporting to address the issue, Judge Ted Stewart of the District of Utah has ruled that an employee has no claim for allegedly misappropriated gratuities under the FLSA unless the employer elected to take the tip credit set … Continue Reading
As discussed in greater detail here, the Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that gratuities received by night club employees were “wages” within the meaning of Minnesota’s law prohibiting deductions, and thus an employer violated that law when it required employees to pay for “register shortages . . . walkouts . . . [and] unsigned credit-card … Continue Reading
Following a bench trial, Judge Aleta A. Trauger of the Middle District of Tennessee has ruled that bouncers at various Coyote Ugly saloons sufficiently interacted with saloon guests to validate their sharing in the tip pool. Stewart, et al. v. CUS Nashville, LLC, et al., M.D. Tenn., No. 11-cv-00342, 8/8/13. In Stewart, Plaintiffs consisted of a … Continue Reading
In a significant victory for New York employers, the New York Court of Appeals has now held that Starbucks’ tip splitting practices did not violate New York law. In answering the certified questions in In Re Starbucks, the Court held “an employee whose personal service to patrons is a principal or regular part of his … Continue Reading
In 2010, the Ninth Circuit held in Cumbie v. Woody Woo, Inc., that an employee’s property right to tips attaches under the FLSA only if the employer is taking a tip credit pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 203(m). In response to this decision the Department of Labor passed widely discussed-regulations which, contrary to the decision, purport … Continue Reading
On May 28, 2013, New York’s highest state court, the New York Court of Appeals, will hear oral argument regarding the scope and application of New York Labor Law 196-d and its tip splitting provisions to Starbucks’ tip pooling practices. The court’s analysis of these issues, which came to the court as certified questions from the … Continue Reading
In a case defended by Jackson Lewis Wage Hour Practice Group Chair and former Wage and Hour Administrator Paul DeCamp, Judge Theresa Springmann of the Northern District of Indiana on Tuesday dismissed claims brought by a former server employed by an Indiana-based Applebee’s operator alleging the restaurant was not entitled to avail itself of the … Continue Reading
In a decision sure to attract attention within the New York hospitality industry, Judge Alison J. Nathan of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in a case of first impression that deducting the full amount of service fees charged by internet food delivery sites (including popular web portal … Continue Reading
The FLSA regulates tip pool participation by limiting pool participants to employees who are “customarily and regularly tipped” as set forth in DOL guidance and interpreted by the courts. While the role of different positions in the service process (going to the question of whether they are “customarily and regularly” tipped) can be hotly contested, the … Continue Reading
The Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has ruled that under Massachusetts’ unique tip statute, shift supervisors cannot participate in the tip jar-based tip pool in Massachusetts locations. Matamoros v. Starbucks Corp., 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 23185 (1st Cir. Nov. 9, 2012). Several years ago, a California Appeal Court ruled just the opposite under California … Continue Reading
Under New York law, a customarily tipped employee cannot be forced to share tips with an employer or its “agent”. In 2009, a New York federal judge ruled that Starbucks did not violate the New York Labor law (specifically Section 196-d) by permitting shift supervisors at New York Starbucks to receive tips from the coffee … Continue Reading
Employers who maintain a tip pool are likely aware that, depending on the employer’s state of operation and prevailing law, such a tip pool typically can consist only employees who are both “customarily and regularly” tipped and who are not themselves “employers” or those with employer authority. Last year, we discussed a court’s recognition of the … Continue Reading
The FLSA’s tip credit provision codified at 29 U.S.C. § 203(m) requires employers to notify employees of any tip credit taken by their employer against minimum wages owed. Prior to the DOL’s notice regulations issued on May 5, 2011 (codified at 29 C.F.R. § 531.59(b)), which were themselves the subject of legal challenge, the form such … Continue Reading
As discussed repeatedly in these pages and elsewhere, employers have faced innumerable lawsuits regarding their alleged failure to distribute amounts purported to be gratuities to service staff in their entirety. However, even distributing tip money dollar-for-dollar to service providers is not a panacea against wage claims, as highlighted in a new opinion issuing from the Eastern … Continue Reading
Tip pool participation under the FLSA, like classification of employees as exempt or non-exempt, turns on the duties of those participating in the tip pool, not their job titles. An example of this analysis is a recent Florida federal court decision rejecting a plaintiff server’s challenge to the inclusion in the tip pool at a Ruth’s Chris Steak … Continue Reading
