In recent months, celebrity chefs, national chain restaurants, Las Vegas casinos and even “mom and pop” taverns have all made headlines because their employees have filed class and collective action lawsuits challenging their pay practices. Generally, these employees allege that their employers failed to comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and/or state wage and hour laws.
 
No-pay practices have caused restaurant operators more trouble than those that pertain to employees’ tips. The FLSA permits an employer to allocate an employee’s tips to satisfy up to 50 percent of the statutory minimum wage requirement provided the following two conditions are met:  (1) the employer must inform the tipped employees of certain provisions of the FLSA; and (2) tipped employees must retain all the tips received except those tips included in a tipping pool shared by employees who customarily receive tips.

Mandatory, employer-run tip pooling arrangements are generally permissible under federal and most state wage and hour laws, but there are some limitations. Recently, allegedly invalid tip pools have been the subject of much litigation. Most of the lawsuits filed allege either that: (1) employees who do not “customarily and regularly” receive tips illegally participated in the tip pool, or (2) the employer or agent of the employer illegally participated in the tip pool.

Tip pool participants must “customarily and regularly” receive tips

Many courts have held that an employee’s level of customer interaction is the most significant factor in evaluating whether an employee qualifies as a “tipped employee.” A tipped employee must perform important customer service functions. The U.S. Department of Labor has recognized certain hospitality industry occupations as either generally eligible or ineligible to participate in tip pooling arrangements. Janitors, dishwashers, chefs/cooks and laundry room attendants typically do not perform customer service functions and, therefore, cannot participate in a tip pool.  

The following occupations, on the other hand, generally perform important customer service functions: waiter/waitresses; bellhops; counter personnel who serve customers; busboys/girls (server helpers); and service bartenders. While the Department of Labor recognizes that these occupations are generally eligible to participate in tip pooling arrangements, it’s important to evaluate each employee’s customer service functions to determine that employee’s eligibility for a tip pool.  

Several recent court decisions shed further light on the level and type of customer service required for tip sharing. In one case, servers employed by a chain restaurant argued that hosts at the restaurant were ineligible to share in a tip pool because they were not engaged in an occupation in which they “customarily and regularly” received tips. The court disagreed, finding that hosts performed important customer service functions: they greet customers, supply them with menus, seat them at tables and occasionally “enhance the wait.” Although they were not the primary customer contact, they had more than a minimal interaction with customers.  

Likewise, in another case, senior servers with some managerial duties were engaged in an occupation in which they customarily and regularly received tips because they had sufficient customer interaction: They helped serve food and drinks to tables, greeted customers and checked on tables during the dinner service.  

In a recent case, waiters and servers at a steakhouse argued that their employer’s tip pooling arrangement was invalid because the maître d’s participated in the pool. The court found, however, that the maître d’s were highly involved in customer interaction and satisfaction and, therefore, “customarily and regularly” received tips. Specifically, they “engaged in guest interactions, helped servers with problems and with wine service, and generally did anything and everything that made the guest experience run efficiently and smoothly.” Their responsibilities included “important customer service functions, such as assuring the tables were set in accordance with guest requests, serving food and drinks to tables, greeting customers, checking on tables, and performing table visits if a guest had a problem or question during the dinner service.”  

Both the quantity and the quality of an employee’s interactions with customers are relevant to whether that employee qualifies as a tipped employee. Industry custom—in terms of who the industry decides to include in a tip pool—is irrelevant in determining whether an employee is a tipped employee under the FLSA. Industry custom from the patron’s perspective, however, is relevant to this inquiry. As one federal court noted, “the federal regulations, as well as legislative history of the statute itself, indicate that it is the customer’s expectation and intent that provides the basis for determining who qualifies as a “tipped employee.” Thus, the determination of who is a “tipped employee” requires an analysis from the customer’s perspective.