Can an employer keep employees tips for the business in Alabama.
Where I work, a small independent restaurant, The owner makes the servers ring all to go orders under the business name and keeps all credit card tips for those orders for the business deposit instead of allowing the server( $2.15 hr) who did the work to keep the tip the customer intended for them, although we take the order, pack the order, cash out the guest ect... Is this legal to keep tips from an employee who works for tips??? A second question about an hourly employee that does make min. wage.... When a host is there (only some days) he/she is paid min. wage and handles all/ most of these to go orders... the customer will at times, like before, leave a tip intended for the host who took their order and packaged their food and drink (ect). The owner keeps the tips for him/herself in this case as well rather than giving it to the intended person( the host). Is this legal ??? It certainly seems wrong and feels like stealing from the employees since a tip is a gift from the customer to the employee for their service, but I have had trouble finding labor law on this in my state (AL), but most others say this is not ok! Any help would be appreciated! Thank you all in advance!
Yes and no.
1. The Fair Labor Standards Act is where you may want to start doing research to better understand.
2. Tip credit is legal. A tip credit is when the employer can recoup a tip credit against the Federal Minimum wage paid to a "tipped employee" . However, the employer must provide information: how much of the wage the employer will pay, the amount of the tip credit the employer will take, must attest that the credit will not exceed the value of the tips you've actually received, they can only take the tip credit if THEY have informed you of the existence of it under FLSA's rules, AND still tell you that you retain and still have ownership of all your tips, unless they take it for a tip pool
The employer CAN require a tip pool but can only distribute tips among the waiters, hostesses, bussers, valets, and bartenders as they too are considered tipped employees. However, you are NOT required to share tips with employees who are not considered tipped employees such as cooks and dishwashers.
The employer cannot collect tips for any other purposes. ALSO, service charges paid to you is DIFFERENT from tips. For example, pizza delivery charges $2 for delivery- if that's indeed paid to the employee or a portion thereof, that does not count as a tip and is not considered yours. The restaurant is allowed to keep that entire charge. Employers can also recoup any service charges related to customers paying on their credit cards. So if Visa charges 3% to use a credit card, the restaurant can collect $.03 for every dollar earned. But they cannot just simply keep the tip until they are reimbursed the fee.
In other words, AT ALL TIMES you own your tips. If there is no tip pooling policy, or you have not been notified and had explained the tip credit- it is not lawful. This is a Federal Law more so than Alabama. So please google the Fair Labor Standards Act
I would also consider how much you NEED this job. Maybe look around for a different position before bringing up the issue
