Restaurant owner's CAN take a % of tips…..
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Waiting...
Hiphophippie23 — 12 years ago(August 12, 2013 10:01 AM)
I just wanted to clear up a couple of things that I have seen incorrectly stated on these boards in the Restaurant tipping debate. I work for an accounting department for a large resort so I know what I'm talking about.
- Restaurants can take a percentage of their servers tips. At my resort, anything over 18% will have a percentage taken out of it, referred to as "house grats". Also, the room delivery fee (for room service), is 100% resort revenue (0% to the server).
- The Florida minimum wage for servers is $4.77/hour. I keep hearing people say it is about 2.60 an hour, but it has risen quite a bit above that in recent years.
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angylcourt — 12 years ago(August 26, 2013 02:12 PM)
Hah I live in Georgia, I am used to a tipped income with bad tending and serving so if minimum wage has risen since I ears it was $7.25 then I missed that update lol.
But as far as I know my managers dot take any % of my tips -
TINAisKIKI — 12 years ago(October 27, 2013 04:38 PM)
I worked as a server in the Florida Keys. My minimum wage started at $4.25 and was eventually raised to an earthshattering $4.75. The Key's are the exception to the state, considering elsewhere the normal wage is $2.25+ for a DIRECTLY tipped employee.
The result: everyone passes off "redflag" tables (you know the ones I'm talking about) in a manner of dangerous warfare. While I've been a server in states with decent minimum wage, and yes no one wants "those" tables even there- Florida, sets a whole new president for profiling customers in terms of potential payout. It's actually hilarious. They live in constant fear of working their butt off for a base $25 all day. -
TINAisKIKI — 12 years ago(November 16, 2013 06:01 PM)
Yeah, that's what's posted on the sign outside of the managers office. The SIGN says that. If you are PRIVATELY owned establishment That's as far as they have to go in following it. A friend in Fort Myers was given $2.25 right off the bat-they stated that was what all their servers start at, her boyfriend who worked at a different restaurant in the same area, started at $2.46.
My favorite was working for the splendid family of Winnie Clement and Joe Walsh who own 5 prime real estate restaurants in Key West. Do you know how they have 5 multi million dollar restaurant properties? By screwing over every server/bartender that works for them. They make you jump through so many hoops to earn that minimum $4.77. I reported my cash tips correctly but they were sometimes high enough that those two deemed it unnecessary to pay a minimum and decided to give me what looked like change they found behind their fridge for a two week check.. ( how do you get $18.35 for 10 shifts 4 of which were doubles). I list their names because they are already in deep for a high profile "tip-pulling" controversial lawsuit that paid the settlement to all of us when I was working there. My point is there are TONS of places like this that down there-especially in areas that don't have a lot of chain restaurant competition. It may be the law but no one follows it.Preemptively apologizing for my iPads Autocorrect. -
Hiphophippie23 — 12 years ago(November 19, 2013 09:03 AM)
I understand what your getting at now. Yes, there are many jobs here in Florida in which managers/owners disobey even the most basic worker-related laws. I'm not sure if this is just a Florida/southern epidemic or if it is nation wide, but its certainly not just restaurant employees unfortunately. My wife has had several positions where it is a struggle just to be paid for the correct amount of hours. Employer abuse certainly runs ramped. And while many may say "Just quit and get another job". That is easier said than done, and often times leads you to another job where the abuse is the same.
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tbirdman-1 — 12 years ago(February 17, 2014 10:17 AM)
I am both a former resident of Florida as well as an ex-restaurant
worker. I lived in St. Petersburg and worked at Hooters Channelside
in Tampa for nearly one year. I was a member of the kitchen crew
so we (cooks, bussers, dishwashers) were all paid $8.00 per hour
because we were not "tipped employees." Our servers were paid
less than $4.77 per hour and this was in 2009. So obviously the
state's minimum wage for tipped staff has risen quite a bit since
then and your post is from last year so I'm assuming that $4.77
per hour is the norm for tipped staff in FL. By the way I worked
on super bowl sunday in 2009 operating the dishwasher. All the cooks
were rotated and worked one shift per week running both machines.
One of the hooters girls brought over the dirty glassware from
the rear bar (there were two bars) and upon emptying out the
bins I saw a Budweiser beer bucket filled with napkins and empty
bottles. When I emptied out the contents lo and behold, there
were two $20.00 bills which fell out! Nobody saw the cash besides
me and I pocketed the money right away! That was my earned tip
for the night being that the city of Tampa had hosted the
super bowl that year between the Steeler and Cardinals. That
cash was my one highlight of the day since the restaurant was
very busy!
Lorenzo Sunny Arizona
Call me a sailor or a swabby just don't call me a squid! -
trims — 11 years ago(April 08, 2014 07:06 PM)
To clear up the clear up:
According to the US Department of Labor, Tips can
NEVER
be "shared" with an employer, and also, they are
NOT
to be shared with people who otherwise are not tipped employees (e.g. kitchen staff, etc.).
Here's the US Dept of Labor's relevant site:
http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/wages/wagestips.htm
Also, here's a table/map of the US minimum wages for tipped employees:
http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm
So, NO, if your boss ever takes any part of your tip, he's just committed a crime. Report him to your State's Labor Board.
"Fees" and "Service Charges" and the like aren't tips. Tips are different, and untouchable by management. Tipped employees may engage in a tip-sharing pool, but this is by arrangement only, and not required. Only those employees who are categorized as "tipped" employees may share in the tip pool. Nobody else.
Here's the relevant portion of the law related to "Service Charges", which are easy to confuse with a "tip":
Service Charges: A compulsory charge for service, for example, 15 percent of the bill, is not a tip. Such charges are part of the employer's gross receipts. Sums distributed to employees from service charges cannot be counted as tips received, but may be used to satisfy the employer's minimum wage and overtime obligations under the FLSA. If an employee receives tips in addition to the compulsory service charge, those tips may be considered in determining whether the employee is a tipped employee and in the application of the tip credit.
But, remember, the statement of "an X% gratuity for parties over 6" that is charged by many restaurants
is a tip
(the key word there being "gratuity"), and
NOT
subject to employer receipt. That portion of the bill MUST be disbursed to the tipped employees. -
Hiphophippie23 — 11 years ago(July 07, 2014 12:27 PM)
You are technically correct, owners cannot take a percentage of 'tips', only 'service charges'. So basically, all a Restaurant owner has to do is name it an "automatic service charge" of 20%, and they can take a chunk of it legally. I suppose I should have gone into greater detail in my original post.
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the_la_baker — 10 years ago(October 19, 2015 09:27 PM)
Laws vary slightly based on location. Florida has notoriously nutty laws the rest of the country generally does not agree with, so I wouldn't use them as a standard and assuming that is the norm everywhere is a bit nutty, as well.
"The basic rule of tips is that they belong to employees, not the employer. Employees can't be required to give their tips or any part of them to the company, except as part of a valid tip pooling arrangement and even then, the tip pool must be divided only among certain other employees. The employer can't be part of the pool.
Under federal law and in most states, employers may pay tipped employees less than the minimum wage, as long as employees receive enough in tips to make up the difference."
-Lisa Guerin, J.D.(employment law) -
RoadSideAssistance — 10 years ago(November 08, 2015 03:43 PM)
I tipped my bus girl but that was it. Kitchen/bar received no tips. That said, I was paid minimum wage and the $s I allocated to my bus girl were completely at my discretion. I treated her right and usually split it down the middle since we were both High School/Jr. High. That said, when she worked restaurant area after I left (some pool tables, non bar area) when the restaurant closed the bar girls tipped her terribly and treated her like crap. They always gave me good tips (like $60 a night outside of my own tips + min wage at 18 years old) and snuck me in the back for free boos lol.
