Do I have to share my tips?

Hi, I’m Innessa Huot and I’m an employment attorney.

We often get calls from servers and bartenders that ask us whether they have to be forced to share their tips with other workers. Well, sometimes restaurants implement these tip pooling systems where they require all their tipped workers to pool their tips together, and then they get a distribution based on a specific percentage. Well, generally, these tip pooling systems are perfectly legal. The only thing that’s not okay is if managers or the employers themselves also participate in the tip pool or if they pocket any of the money. What’s also not okay is that these tips are shared with non-tipped back of the house workers such as cooks or dishwashers because they should already be paid the minimum wage.

If you have questions about the tip pool or about how you’re being paid, give us a call and we’d be happy to speak with you about this so that you can learn more about your rights. Thanks for watching.