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

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