Can Restaurants Use Tip Credit Wages for Non-Tipped Work?

If you have ever waited tables then you know, that the Fair Labors Standards Act(FLSA) allows an employer to pay an employee a lower hourly rate if they receive enough tips to put them over the minimum wage amount. This can work great for both the employer and the employee if it is a restaurant/bar with good tippers. However, we have handled numerous cases over the past years where greedy employer try to skirt the law to make it even better for them. Some of the most common tip pool violations we see are:

1. Making the employee share their tips with managment and traditionally non-tipped employees
2. Employee does not make enough tips to reach an average of minimum wage
3. Paying the server the tip wage for non-tipped work. (ex. you have to clean the restaurant after close).

4. Not paying more for overtime work.

If you believe you have been the victim of a Tennessee Tip Pool Wage Violation please feel free to contact our office. We can usually tell fairly quickly if you have a case or not. Sometime people just need to know if they are being treated in accordance with the law and our Tennessee Overtime Pay Lawyers can help.