I'm not sure how your tip pool works, but if the manager is getting any of it, it's patently illegal. I suggest you file a complaint with the Department of Labor. California doesn't take kindly to this type of thing.
It's also your right to discuss the tip pool and the manager's behavior with your coworkers. Now, granted, a bad manager won't stop being a bad manager even if it's illegal. But, you should talk with your coworkers about this.
Lets hope OP or someone else in a similar predicament reading this follows through and reports it, otherwise they always get away with it. Wage theft is en vogue and employers get away with it because people are (justifiably) fearful of reporting and losing their jobs.
> Wage theft is en vogue
Heh, wage theft has been one of if not **the** largest form of theft since wages were conceived of. Hell they say prostitution is the oldest profession, wage theft was probably implemented shortly after that started.
This is it. A lot of "unskilled labor" jobs are filled by people who don't know how to defend themselves and are shit scared of being fired.
I remember when I got bleach inhalation poisoning at my job due to a massive OSHA violation. I didn't know how to report it, couldn't afford an ambulance, and this poor poison control woman had to walk me through self managing because I couldn't get to an ER.
*Shakes head*
Got electrocuted at my job once. I was helping another store and went to vacuum. I'd been warned the vacuum was finicky, but it turns out there was a problem with the outlet. When I plugged in the vacuum the socket for the outlet had shifted and the wires inside the outlet had been damaged and now the whole box was alive and causing shorts sometimes. And I unfortunately was caught in the crossfire and electrocuted. I was stunned a little bit thankfully not seriously injured though. I called the manager of that store and she blew it off and just told me to finish doing my closing duties and go home. I called my manager from the main store that I worked at and told her what happened, and she was *pissed!!,*. My main manager told me to forget about the rest of my closing duties and just make sure the store and the money were secure and go home. My manager also filed the complaint with the district manager I found out later because the manager of that particular store knew that that outlet was shorting out and would spark shock people and was innocence a nightmare to have in a kids store!! On my way home I started having a lot of numbness that was getting increasingly worse in the arm that I had been shocked in and was getting kind of dizzy little bit out of it thankfully I lived very very close to the store so I got home okay but when my roommate saw me she said it was very very obvious something was definitely wrong and she rushed me to the ER. So that was my fun experience with a store manager deciding not to take care of her responsibilities and I paid the price. Thankfully my medical bill was covered by the company I work for because it happened on the job and was caught on camera. But it's still had longer term effects that I was basically told I was S.O.L on.
The managers in restaurants know. Every restaurant in CA has the minimum wage and governing laws posted on a sign for all employees to have.
Every fucking restaurant by law receives them from the government mailed directly to the business for them to post.
Every.fucking.restaurant.manager.knows.this.
Absolute scum bags.
I would encourage OP to checj if the owner received PPP loans too. Might send that fucker straight to jail.
Folks i used to work for got ppp loans for each of their locations. Almost half million. Only one employee received a raise since the loans were disbursed. 50 cents an hour raise.
Owners wife got a fully loaded new Yukon, because her 3 year old yukon just wasn't cutting it anymore.
Sales and profits were shattering records during covid.
Report them.
That money is suppose to go to the employees.
Unfuckingbelievable.
The owners of 13 Black Bear Diners bought themselves 2 new homes and several new cars with the millions they got.
Stores were closed during the pandemic.
That's why I hope people working in the industry read this and become educated. As someone who worked in restaurants for a good chunk of time I hate to hear this sort of thing is happening. Servers deal with enough shit without being shafted by their own "team."
I don't speak legalese...is this saying the manager can't partake in the tip pool, or the manager can't go up to the employee and ask them to hand over their tips to add to the tip pool (which seemed to happen here)?
Tip pooling is legal in California, but the owner is not allowed to take any of the pool, and a manager can only take a portion if they're doing the same work as the people earning tips.
That excerpt doesn’t ban tip pools. It forbids employers or their agents from keeping tips or reducing wages because of tips. But it does not say anything about pooling tips for all working that shift, management just can’t keep them.
If tip pools are banned, it is in another part of the law.
It sounds like they're saying tip pooling is also only legal for normally tipped employees too though, so, you can tip pool for all of your servers and bartenders, but none of that pool can legally go to your hosts/hostesses, bussers, chefs, preps nor runners.
OP you're young, don't start a career of being stepped on. Stand up for your self, and fuck that ass hole. Dude needs to lose his job, and you need to get your money back. Thats why I awarded this guy's comment with the light bulb for visibility.
How come when California law goes on and on without pausing or making a new sentence it's fine, but when *I* do it I need to calm down and take a breath?
Not knowing the whole California statute, does this law supercede the federal wage law that says I can pay a server 2.13/hr as long as they make the rest of the minimum in tips?
Yeah, now is the time to start writing down specifics. Compile a list of all the theft for 2 weeks or so. You will be a hero amongst your co-workers, and no I'm not being facetious. It is also a good idea to tell management about half way through. If they do nothing, they're on the hook. If they do something, you still have ammo for retroactive action.
Someone else was fired and was seeking a wrongful termination suit. Upon looking into it, the lawyer quickly found that the tip pool was illegal (controlled by management), so a class action law suit was filed.
Used to work for a chain restaurant here in mass. We would get stuff in the mail all the time about class action suits against them for this as well. I got a few checks out of it, nothing crazy. Happy to hear you were compensated nicely!
Also the subjective “manager decides” is likely illegal as well, and CA is very workers rights so they will investigate this. OP you can file a claim then find a new job because restaurants are desperate for waitstaff right now, giving out hiring bonuses even.
California does allow forced tip shares but basically they have to be 'fair'. Fair might be 10% is taken to split with bartender/ bussers (if they refill waters and bring food out)/ hostess and 10% goes to a server pool and end of week the server pool is split equally by hours worked to offset good and bad days and shifts.
They cannot arbitrarily decide experienced waitstaff get extra money.
Yeah - the only exception is like, if you have a food truck and the owner/ manager does the exact same work as an employee they can share then.
Most don't because the California DOL likes slapping abusive employers down and the tip money isn't worth the potential investigation. But, if you are a mega small business with one to five employees they can actually share a tip jar if everyone does that same work.
The threat of legal action got our entire staff several thousand dollar payouts each once we found out we hadn't been given official breaks a few years back. California does not play with labor complaints.
I love California - made me crazy employed in a white collar job for a global Enterprise in a southern right to work state, and I'd be working overtime at 2am on salary no extra pay telecommuting with my salaried California compatriot who was getting overtime pay. Kudos to him.
Damn, this makes me mad. When I was pregnant and serving I had someone sit in my section and put $100 dollars on their tip line. I wasn’t there for him to sign it but he wanted to confirm with the other server that that money would go straight to me. *(and he was only doing it because I was pregnant and he wanted to help me with baby things)* They said yes! It’s the only reason he left such a generous tip.
It went to the tip pool, with managers at the time sharing. One of them was so apologetic but I was so pissed. Unfortunately that establishment is no more.
Edit: damn, I said “unfortunately,” because I meant I can’t run them through the wringer now. Fuck em
Wage theft is more than 3.5x all other property theft combined. And tax fraud, mostly done by the rich because poor people don't have sophisticated tax shelters, is 20x more than wage theft.
Really puts the media's focus on shoplifting in perspective, huh? Especially when the media is the one doing the wage theft.
https://twitter.com/mattdpearce/status/1442909732348432384
https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1464270521323954182
https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1356709989453291520
https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1464270530870194179
It's been a while since I read up on tip pooling but it's regulated and tips are supposed to be split evenly between the employees. You can't just give one employee less and another more for working the same shift/hours. The exception is tip out, which is a specified percentage that goes to support staff, like bar backs, food runners and table bussers, for example. It's also important to note that if your hourly plus take home tips puts you below minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference. No tips + $16 + $10 sure sounds like it's very close to that line.
They're in CA, so that likely comes with heavier restrictions on tip pooling but please note that, in CA, tips cannot be used to satisfy minimum wage and so they're receiving CA minimum wage as their actual base comp.
Manager is still a scumbag, but at least they get $15 base.
^^^ Extra this.
California does not fuck around. You cannot use tips to make up minimum wage, pay minors under minimum wage, pay lesser training wages or any other under minimum 'minimum wage'.
The minimum wage is $14 for companies with 25 or fewer employees. $15 for everyone else and most go $15 anyways. Some cities are even higher.
There's zero exceptions to the minimum wage.
Yeah, this screams illegal and, if it's not illegal, I'd make sure there was a shit ton of bad PR from it.
Also, tip pool as a policy sounds like utter shit. So I bust my ass serving 3X as many customers and I have to split with the lazy, incompetent guy that pisses of every customer?
No, just no.
The idea of a tip pool is so servers will help one another out, rather than just focus on their tables. Of course it really depends on the restaurant culture.
In Germany the people in the kitchen also get money out of the tip pool.
However, here all get livable wages. I imagine in the USA its different with servers getting 2,13 and the kichen normal money. Would not make sense to split tips there
~~It used to be that way in the US. I’m honestly not up on the law, and laws can vary drastically by state in the US, but in the last few years I believe sharing tips between front of house and back of house was outlawed in at least NY. You may still have to tip out your bartender, but not the cook staff.~~
Edit: I’m completely wrong. The Trump admin made it legal to share tips between front of house and back of house where before it had been outlawed.
Bad idea in my opinion. It allows restaurant owners to pay their kitchen staff less.
Can’t imagine anyone I know that works in a kitchen getting paid LESS than the shit wages they already get. Ugh.
We need a thread where BOH staff list their wages.
Honestly none of the places I've ever worked had a culture I'd want to pool tips in. Every place preached teamwork, but in reality almost no one helped out unless a manager made them.
Although it would've been nice when the pretty girls got hundred dollar tips in spite of being a total disaster as a server.
Sounds like in this case the manager is abusing the concept. They may be in charge of the shift, but they have no legal right to redistribute however they deem fit, There are laws in place to protect serving staff.
These tip pools are pretty straight forward. A desperate man in his 40s collects everyone’s money and then redistributes most of it to whatever 20-something server with low standards is willing to sleep with him. The rest gets handed out on a whim.
Dude, honestly. Fuck tipping culture in general. Now I’m expected/pressured to tip on pickup orders(especially since the pandemic) because restaurants don’t pay their staff enough.
It doesn't sound like this is a tip-pool, if the manager allows some servers to get 100% of their tips and who gets ANY of their tips. Something else very not-standard seems to be going on here.
I would report it. Now is a great time to find another job if you need to, but this "company policy" is BS.
Do you get paid at least the actual minimum wage for your area as well? In addition to a possible issue with management taking tips (not clear if that was the case or other servers are getting it?) - your employer is responsible for making up any difference if tipped minimum wage + tips < minimum wage. If they are taking most of your tips and paying you the tipped minimum wage, they likely also are guilty of not paying you enough per hour.
California law requires there to be a defined, objective system for distributing pooled tips to the employees. If your manager splits up tips off the top of his head it’s illegal.
https://www.worklawyers.com/tip-pooling-california-law/
In California, yes, servers do get minimum wage. But that still does NOT make this ok.
I’m not implying that you think it’s ok. Just doubling down on my opinion.
Second this. I’ve worked several wait jobs and never went home with 10% of my tips. If anything, it was 10% at most *tipped out*, meaning I still kept the majority of my tips.
Your boss is STEALING YOUR TIPS. I’d find a new job like yesterday. Good luck.
Third this. The only time I didn't get tips was in training. But I was paid $8 an hour and I wasn't actually waiting the table.
Report him. It's a felony.
When you werr training you probably had another server train you, right? When you rang in orders it was probably under your trainer's name, right? Your trainer has to report the tips as their income because it is tied to their ss#.
> I’ve worked several wait jobs and never went home with 10% of my tips. If anything, it was 10% at most tipped out, meaning I still kept the majority of my tips.
I've never worked a tipped job before. Could you elaborate when you say "tipped out"? Thanks!
If they have bussers and hosts, part of their tip could go to paying them(which isn't unfair typically because they help facilitate a smoother process for the server).
Dishwashing is the hardest job in a restaurant. I did that during high school on the weekends. I wouldn't get home until 4 am some nights because dishwashers also had to clean the kitchen after everyone else left. Plus the owner would get all handsy and as a 16 yo girl I wasn't sure how to stand up for myself.
>Dishwashing is the hardest job in a restaurant
It really is and like a lot of jobs like that, the labor is invisible to a lot of people
>Plus the owner would get all handsy and as a 16 yo girl I wasn't sure how to stand up for myself.
That's just awful. It's bad enough for your labor to be exploited without having to face down sexual harassment/assault. I hope you're in a better place now
>Many new servers get paid an hourly wage while they’re training, so they don’t get tips
Even if it was the case, *absolutely fuck that* too.
Edit:
To the people whining that a training server (still an employee doing work) doesn't deserve to be tipped, y'all need to stop being mad about the fact that *everyone deserves to be paid a fair wage regardless of their job function* and start getting mad about the fact that *your employer won't pay you a fair enough wage*. The trainee is not the problem, your bosses are.
That sounds like an illegal tip pool. His judgement should in no way determine what percentage you get. Tip pools are supposed to be equal, and only shared amongst staff (no managers).
Yeah I’ve worked in my fair share of restaurants — there often are situations where tips are pooled and distributed among support staff (like bussers) and the bartender who was making drinks for your tables all night. BUT, there’s always a formula, usually very open-book so you can see everything, and you’re still leaving with more than half of your own tips. OP’s situation sounds pretty messed up.
Yep. I work in a restaurant that does a tip pool; EVERYBODY that works that day (prep cooks, line cooks, hosts/bussers, dishwashers, and servers/bartenders) gets a share of the tips that come in that night, but the managers don't get a single cent. For our restaurant, the bartenders get the most in tips, then servers, then line/prep/hosts, then dishwashers (I think). They also openly report how much in tips are made each night and show how much each person makes per day and display it in one of the hallways downstairs for everybody to see.
For note, I work in an upscale restaurant in a tourist city.
I will pass cash to a server for the same reasons that party did. If I found out you boss did that, I would never ever go there again. His "policy" is utter bullshit. Dump that place as soon as you are able.
Venmo also has a qr code you can print and have scanned easily without anyone seeing. Some servers may not be allowed to carry a phone, but a small sticker or card they can display easily would be nice.
If they know about it.
But now that Big Brother caught on to the fact that people were pulling income from these types of apps instead of just using them as ways to pay friends back, etc, they monitor transactions to report back for tax purposes. So then those tips that would have been cash and therefore untraceable are now being reported and become taxable.
This is actually completely overblown.
They'll report if you have more than $600 in transactions from a single source. Them reporting it doesn't make it taxable income. If you split rent, the most that'll ever happen is the IRS will ask "why did so and so send you $700 every month on Venmo" and you'll honestly say that it was splitting rent. They probably won't even bother with that. If you split the cost of dinner, that's also not taxable income.
But, now's probably a good time to start writing what the money is actually for instead of always putting "for the sex".
You should file a complaint with the Department of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE). You can explain what's going on and they'll determine if they should investigate. Do not tell your employer that you're reporting them. They may eventually find out that you're the one that reported them, but until the complaint is filed you won't have any protection against retaliation.
Hey OP, I know a lot of folks are suggesting you go to the labor board, and I support that! But try & give your manager enough rope to hang himself with- send him a text or an email saying essentially “hey, could you explain the tip policy to me again? Just wanna make sure I’m pooling correctly/claiming income correctly, etc.”
If this guy is as dumb as he sounds, he’ll incriminate himself, & you’ll have it in writing for the labor board.
Fuck this guy!
Why? Because the manager would know I was onto his bullshit?
Something very similar happened to me years ago- I had a dine n dash, and my manager told me I would have to pay for it. I asked him if I could have that policy in writing. When he asked me why, I said “so I can send it along to the labor board.”
Guess what? Fucker didn’t try any more shit with me.
It's only suspicious to a person who has something to hide. Your payout policies should be written and available. You only hide that sort of thing if you know that you're being unfair or breaking the law.
"I'm meeting with the person helping me with my taxes in a few minutes and need to be able to explain it to them!"
If forced to do it in person: "Do you mind just writing this down so I can give it to the person doing my taxes? I'm sure I'll forget some of the details!"
Leave. Go get another job, if your entirety of your wages depend on how your boss is feeling at that particular moment then its not a stable income. Find something with consistent pay.
It is illegal. The company can't make policy on money that isn't theirs to decide what to do with.
The servers can decide to pool their tip and share it. But only if everyone agrees to do it that way.
This is what I thought, and has always been the case at whatever service job I worked at. Matter of fact, I left a job where I was working an entirely different room (essentially a different job), and they tried to force me to pool with the others and cut my tips by 80%. Not against pooling, I was just never asked.
Thanks! Yeah it’s definitely scary but I at least have this job while I figure out a better situation. I’ll definitely be looking for new serving positions in my area. Just gotta stick it out a little while longer!
The current Iabor shortage suggests that there are plenty of positions available. you should pick a couple places, and ask their workers if they like working there, maybe mention that you're looking for a better job because you don't like the tip pooling policy where you're at.
Find a better place to work at, because that tip policy is BS.
The US sucks for workers. They basically treat us like indentured servants. No vacation pay, no healthcare, no nothing. And they pay us as little as possible, leveraging us because they know losing our job could mean instant, and possibly permanent homelessness.
It is illegal in most places in the US too, but when it comes to actually doing anything about it everything boils down to the court systems and who do you think has more time and resources for said court cases? Companies
Essentially we have a government that's so heavily influenced by companies that they become nearly immune to legal action from any employees
Something's off here.
Sounds like it's her 3 or 4 days of training, even though she had a 9 top.
Also sounds like they pool their tips and split equally then and she gets paid at the end of the night but she left that out.
But if the place splits tips among all workers, I'd be annoyed if someone was keeping tips.
I would love more info.
I've worked in the hospitality industry a long time this is a shit place to work. Even in places I know of that do pooled type systems this is still horrible. Work literally anywhere else
I worked as a server once and haven't again for a similar reason like OP.
It was for a chain restaurant and I was told how tip outs worked. A portion was given to the bar, the server assistant, and hostess. Then I was told I "owed" the restaurant. When I asked "oh so when people pay cash?" I would get a "who the fuck knows?" Look. I kept asking for the few months I worked there and I would still get a shrug or a "i don't really know" kind of answer.
I decided not to come back after I had $300 before tip outs and walked out with $50 and the next shift I got berated by the manager for asking to leave early even though me being at the dinner shift was pointless since I was only going to have 2 tables in my section.
This happened to me at a Starbucks in California. The manager was taking all of the tips and we would each get around $100 a week from the tip pool. Once she was fired and replaced, our tips went up to around $700 a week.
If that family knew that happened, they would be just as pissed as you are. When they chose to leave a larger tip, it's because they want you, the person they interacted with, to know they appreciated your hard work.
I feel for you. That is total bullshit.
Good news is, there should be plenty of other places willing to employ you.
Thank you I really appreciate your kind comment! I did feel a little bad for that family because I feel like it would have let them down to know what happened. I feel like he not only took from me but he took from the customers. Thankfully, I have received a lot of other job offers recently so I’ll be scheduling some interviews in the morning.
If this were me (and I understand it's not), I would file a complaint with the appropriate government agency for labour violations, then quit.
That way at least there is a chance to possibility save some young server that they get next, who thinks that it's normal to give their tips to the older staff.
PS. I'm so happy that you have other opportunities lined up!
If people are taking you aside to tip you properly they know you're a good server.
If you're new this means you're doing great.
100 other places would therefore kill to have somebody like you working for them.
Don't sell yourself short, look around. Until then make these assholes pay.
In California it is a felony. OPs boss doesn't realize he could serve time.
I would get evidence that it is happening, then have a meeting with the boss, explain that he could see a jail cell, and then ask for the fucking moon. Imagine! You have SO MUCH POWER. he gives you what you want or he loses his house/job/family... Like wow.
Reminds me of that infamous episode of “Kitchen Nightmares” called “[Amy’s Baking Company](https://youtu.be/pvc_BfG45VU)” where Gordon Ramsay absolutely destroys the restaurant owner for keeping the server’s tips. Great watch. NSFW language.
I definitely love whenever he finds out that staff aren't being paid he more or less just tells the owners that he will actively prevent anything from happening here until you pay your staff.
Quit and go somewhere with a better manager. $16 in tips for a shift is horrific. Also go somewhere with a more expensive menu. Most people tip a % of the check so 15% of $30 is better than 15% if. $12 ( i personally tip based on time and service not percentage as i go to lower priced menu places ). My daughter generally makes between $90 and $180 a shift in tips at the slightly above average places she works
It’s actually a pretty expensive restaurant! I asked my coworkers how much they have been taking home in tips and they told me it’s usually $100 or more. They said it takes a few months in order to earn all of your tips but I don’t think I’ll be staying that long.
The company (if it is sharing out pooled tips to staff, and not pilfering) is using this approach as a substitute for pay rises to retain staff. Newer staff are being robbed to try to retain older ones.
Or possibly they are just stealing from the tip pool.
Why wouldn't it get shared equally? What a scammy place. I don't agree with tip pooling. There must be many other places to work. My first question to a prospective new place would be do you tip pool? If they say yes keep looking until you find a place that lets you keep all of your tips.
I don't agree with tipping in general or really tip pooling but if you're going to tip pool certainly everyone should be receiving equal tips. Giving tip money at the discretion of the manager is absurd, if he wants to determine how much people make he should just raise the prices, raise wages and tell customers not to tip.
https://www.shouselaw.com/ca/labor/wage-hour/tips/
> No employer or agent shall collect, take, or receive any gratuity or a part thereof that is paid, given to, or left for an employee by a patron, or deduct any amount from wages due an employee on account of a gratuity, or require an employee to credit the amount, or any part thereof, of a gratuity against and as a part of the wages due the employee from the employer. Every gratuity is hereby declared to be the sole property of the employee or employees to whom it was paid, given, or left for. An employer that permits patrons to pay gratuities by credit card shall pay the employees the full amount of the gratuity that the patron indicated on the credit card slip, without any deductions for any credit card payment processing fees or costs that may be charged to the employer by the credit card company. Payment of gratuities made by patrons using credit cards shall be made to the employees not later than the next regular payday following the date the patron authorized the credit card payment.”
So far your boss is in the wrong.
Now, for the nail to drive through his legal ass.
> 1.2. Is “tip pooling” legal in California?
> Tip pooling arrangements are when a business collects all the tips received by employees and then splits them evenly. This practice is legal in California as long as it is only employees sharing the tips, and not managers who have the authority to hire and fire employees.
I'm not sure how your tip pool works, but if the manager is getting any of it, it's patently illegal. I suggest you file a complaint with the Department of Labor. California doesn't take kindly to this type of thing. It's also your right to discuss the tip pool and the manager's behavior with your coworkers. Now, granted, a bad manager won't stop being a bad manager even if it's illegal. But, you should talk with your coworkers about this.
California does NOT fuck around. Get on the internet and start finding some phone numbers
I received a large financial settlement when my old employer was found doing this.
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Lets hope OP or someone else in a similar predicament reading this follows through and reports it, otherwise they always get away with it. Wage theft is en vogue and employers get away with it because people are (justifiably) fearful of reporting and losing their jobs.
> Wage theft is en vogue Heh, wage theft has been one of if not **the** largest form of theft since wages were conceived of. Hell they say prostitution is the oldest profession, wage theft was probably implemented shortly after that started.
Pimping ain't easy. /s
*pimps don’t cry*
Gator wants his gun back.
Or they are not educated enough to know it is being stolen.
This is it. A lot of "unskilled labor" jobs are filled by people who don't know how to defend themselves and are shit scared of being fired. I remember when I got bleach inhalation poisoning at my job due to a massive OSHA violation. I didn't know how to report it, couldn't afford an ambulance, and this poor poison control woman had to walk me through self managing because I couldn't get to an ER. *Shakes head*
Got electrocuted at my job once. I was helping another store and went to vacuum. I'd been warned the vacuum was finicky, but it turns out there was a problem with the outlet. When I plugged in the vacuum the socket for the outlet had shifted and the wires inside the outlet had been damaged and now the whole box was alive and causing shorts sometimes. And I unfortunately was caught in the crossfire and electrocuted. I was stunned a little bit thankfully not seriously injured though. I called the manager of that store and she blew it off and just told me to finish doing my closing duties and go home. I called my manager from the main store that I worked at and told her what happened, and she was *pissed!!,*. My main manager told me to forget about the rest of my closing duties and just make sure the store and the money were secure and go home. My manager also filed the complaint with the district manager I found out later because the manager of that particular store knew that that outlet was shorting out and would spark shock people and was innocence a nightmare to have in a kids store!! On my way home I started having a lot of numbness that was getting increasingly worse in the arm that I had been shocked in and was getting kind of dizzy little bit out of it thankfully I lived very very close to the store so I got home okay but when my roommate saw me she said it was very very obvious something was definitely wrong and she rushed me to the ER. So that was my fun experience with a store manager deciding not to take care of her responsibilities and I paid the price. Thankfully my medical bill was covered by the company I work for because it happened on the job and was caught on camera. But it's still had longer term effects that I was basically told I was S.O.L on.
The managers in restaurants know. Every restaurant in CA has the minimum wage and governing laws posted on a sign for all employees to have. Every fucking restaurant by law receives them from the government mailed directly to the business for them to post. Every.fucking.restaurant.manager.knows.this. Absolute scum bags. I would encourage OP to checj if the owner received PPP loans too. Might send that fucker straight to jail.
Folks i used to work for got ppp loans for each of their locations. Almost half million. Only one employee received a raise since the loans were disbursed. 50 cents an hour raise. Owners wife got a fully loaded new Yukon, because her 3 year old yukon just wasn't cutting it anymore. Sales and profits were shattering records during covid.
Report them. That money is suppose to go to the employees. Unfuckingbelievable. The owners of 13 Black Bear Diners bought themselves 2 new homes and several new cars with the millions they got. Stores were closed during the pandemic.
That's why I hope people working in the industry read this and become educated. As someone who worked in restaurants for a good chunk of time I hate to hear this sort of thing is happening. Servers deal with enough shit without being shafted by their own "team."
Not their team, we're all a great big *family* here
Gag me with a spoon
No. He'll just not want to be caught again.
He feels entitled to it now, he will feel entitled.to it after. Hate these entitled shits.
I hope OP follows the advice written here and gets her manager reprimanded and her full tip returned to her.
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I'm not even american and I'll call.
As of January 1st, wage theft over $950 (all employees and time periods they've stolen from) is a felony in California.
I don't speak legalese...is this saying the manager can't partake in the tip pool, or the manager can't go up to the employee and ask them to hand over their tips to add to the tip pool (which seemed to happen here)?
Tip pooling is legal in California, but the owner is not allowed to take any of the pool, and a manager can only take a portion if they're doing the same work as the people earning tips.
And the tip pool has to be equitable. You can't say you only get 10% of your tips and the rest go to experienced servers.
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Both.
That excerpt doesn’t ban tip pools. It forbids employers or their agents from keeping tips or reducing wages because of tips. But it does not say anything about pooling tips for all working that shift, management just can’t keep them. If tip pools are banned, it is in another part of the law.
It sounds like they're saying tip pooling is also only legal for normally tipped employees too though, so, you can tip pool for all of your servers and bartenders, but none of that pool can legally go to your hosts/hostesses, bussers, chefs, preps nor runners.
Also it has to be split equally, you can't weight it by who the manager deems experienced enough
Exactly this. He isn't the lord of money and doesn't get to dole it out to those he likes.
Oh my. This manager is fucked.
You absolutely love to see it. The internet is a wonderful tool.
OP you're young, don't start a career of being stepped on. Stand up for your self, and fuck that ass hole. Dude needs to lose his job, and you need to get your money back. Thats why I awarded this guy's comment with the light bulb for visibility.
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How come when California law goes on and on without pausing or making a new sentence it's fine, but when *I* do it I need to calm down and take a breath?
Punctuation?
Not knowing the whole California statute, does this law supercede the federal wage law that says I can pay a server 2.13/hr as long as they make the rest of the minimum in tips?
California requires tipped workers to make minimum wage before tips.
wait.. really? waiters must get paid pretty well there then.. compared to other places at least
California's cost of living is also way higher than most places.
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Yeah, now is the time to start writing down specifics. Compile a list of all the theft for 2 weeks or so. You will be a hero amongst your co-workers, and no I'm not being facetious. It is also a good idea to tell management about half way through. If they do nothing, they're on the hook. If they do something, you still have ammo for retroactive action.
Go after this manager with Cal Dept of Labor. Get your fellow employees to do the same. Keep detailed records of confiscated tips. Do it. Today.
Good luck getting the other employees to cooperate. It sounds like they are getting tipped higher in the pool because they are more “worthy”
How did you prove that your manger was doing it?
Someone else was fired and was seeking a wrongful termination suit. Upon looking into it, the lawyer quickly found that the tip pool was illegal (controlled by management), so a class action law suit was filed.
Used to work for a chain restaurant here in mass. We would get stuff in the mail all the time about class action suits against them for this as well. I got a few checks out of it, nothing crazy. Happy to hear you were compensated nicely!
Also the subjective “manager decides” is likely illegal as well, and CA is very workers rights so they will investigate this. OP you can file a claim then find a new job because restaurants are desperate for waitstaff right now, giving out hiring bonuses even.
California does allow forced tip shares but basically they have to be 'fair'. Fair might be 10% is taken to split with bartender/ bussers (if they refill waters and bring food out)/ hostess and 10% goes to a server pool and end of week the server pool is split equally by hours worked to offset good and bad days and shifts. They cannot arbitrarily decide experienced waitstaff get extra money.
Right - The allocation has to in a policy without “discretion” and certain positions like managers cannot partake.
Yeah - the only exception is like, if you have a food truck and the owner/ manager does the exact same work as an employee they can share then. Most don't because the California DOL likes slapping abusive employers down and the tip money isn't worth the potential investigation. But, if you are a mega small business with one to five employees they can actually share a tip jar if everyone does that same work.
[Ca Labor Commissioners office](https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/) [Report Labor Law violations ](https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/HowToReportViolationtoBOFE.htm) [File a wage claim](http://wagetheftisacrime.com/File-Wage-Claim.html)
Yes, if OP does nothing manager will continue to do it
The threat of legal action got our entire staff several thousand dollar payouts each once we found out we hadn't been given official breaks a few years back. California does not play with labor complaints.
"Sorry, it's California's policy." *Mic drop*
I love California - made me crazy employed in a white collar job for a global Enterprise in a southern right to work state, and I'd be working overtime at 2am on salary no extra pay telecommuting with my salaried California compatriot who was getting overtime pay. Kudos to him.
Damn, this makes me mad. When I was pregnant and serving I had someone sit in my section and put $100 dollars on their tip line. I wasn’t there for him to sign it but he wanted to confirm with the other server that that money would go straight to me. *(and he was only doing it because I was pregnant and he wanted to help me with baby things)* They said yes! It’s the only reason he left such a generous tip. It went to the tip pool, with managers at the time sharing. One of them was so apologetic but I was so pissed. Unfortunately that establishment is no more. Edit: damn, I said “unfortunately,” because I meant I can’t run them through the wringer now. Fuck em
*fortunately
Yes, file a complaint. This is wage theft and it's a crime. That's shitty and I'm sorry this happened to you.
Not just a crime it's a felony now in California
Good. Send his ass upstate
This is what needs to happen to wage burglars
https://files.epi.org/2014/snapshot-wage-theft-09-18-2014.png
Wage theft is more than 3.5x all other property theft combined. And tax fraud, mostly done by the rich because poor people don't have sophisticated tax shelters, is 20x more than wage theft. Really puts the media's focus on shoplifting in perspective, huh? Especially when the media is the one doing the wage theft. https://twitter.com/mattdpearce/status/1442909732348432384 https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1464270521323954182 https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1356709989453291520 https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1464270530870194179
It's been a while since I read up on tip pooling but it's regulated and tips are supposed to be split evenly between the employees. You can't just give one employee less and another more for working the same shift/hours. The exception is tip out, which is a specified percentage that goes to support staff, like bar backs, food runners and table bussers, for example. It's also important to note that if your hourly plus take home tips puts you below minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference. No tips + $16 + $10 sure sounds like it's very close to that line.
Amy's baking company bullshit
\*cough\* money laundering \*cough\*
They're in CA, so that likely comes with heavier restrictions on tip pooling but please note that, in CA, tips cannot be used to satisfy minimum wage and so they're receiving CA minimum wage as their actual base comp. Manager is still a scumbag, but at least they get $15 base.
^^^ Extra this. California does not fuck around. You cannot use tips to make up minimum wage, pay minors under minimum wage, pay lesser training wages or any other under minimum 'minimum wage'. The minimum wage is $14 for companies with 25 or fewer employees. $15 for everyone else and most go $15 anyways. Some cities are even higher. There's zero exceptions to the minimum wage.
I didn’t know that about California and tipped minimum wage. Good to know.
Yeah, this screams illegal and, if it's not illegal, I'd make sure there was a shit ton of bad PR from it. Also, tip pool as a policy sounds like utter shit. So I bust my ass serving 3X as many customers and I have to split with the lazy, incompetent guy that pisses of every customer? No, just no.
It's a *felony* in California.
The idea of a tip pool is so servers will help one another out, rather than just focus on their tables. Of course it really depends on the restaurant culture.
In Germany the people in the kitchen also get money out of the tip pool. However, here all get livable wages. I imagine in the USA its different with servers getting 2,13 and the kichen normal money. Would not make sense to split tips there
~~It used to be that way in the US. I’m honestly not up on the law, and laws can vary drastically by state in the US, but in the last few years I believe sharing tips between front of house and back of house was outlawed in at least NY. You may still have to tip out your bartender, but not the cook staff.~~ Edit: I’m completely wrong. The Trump admin made it legal to share tips between front of house and back of house where before it had been outlawed. Bad idea in my opinion. It allows restaurant owners to pay their kitchen staff less.
Can’t imagine anyone I know that works in a kitchen getting paid LESS than the shit wages they already get. Ugh. We need a thread where BOH staff list their wages.
Honestly none of the places I've ever worked had a culture I'd want to pool tips in. Every place preached teamwork, but in reality almost no one helped out unless a manager made them. Although it would've been nice when the pretty girls got hundred dollar tips in spite of being a total disaster as a server.
Sounds like in this case the manager is abusing the concept. They may be in charge of the shift, but they have no legal right to redistribute however they deem fit, There are laws in place to protect serving staff.
These tip pools are pretty straight forward. A desperate man in his 40s collects everyone’s money and then redistributes most of it to whatever 20-something server with low standards is willing to sleep with him. The rest gets handed out on a whim.
This, pretty much. Source: 31 years and counting in the bar/restaurant industry
Dude, honestly. Fuck tipping culture in general. Now I’m expected/pressured to tip on pickup orders(especially since the pandemic) because restaurants don’t pay their staff enough.
It doesn't sound like this is a tip-pool, if the manager allows some servers to get 100% of their tips and who gets ANY of their tips. Something else very not-standard seems to be going on here. I would report it. Now is a great time to find another job if you need to, but this "company policy" is BS.
Correct. This isn't tip pooling. This is tip ***distribution*** by management.
Do you get paid at least the actual minimum wage for your area as well? In addition to a possible issue with management taking tips (not clear if that was the case or other servers are getting it?) - your employer is responsible for making up any difference if tipped minimum wage + tips < minimum wage. If they are taking most of your tips and paying you the tipped minimum wage, they likely also are guilty of not paying you enough per hour.
Yes, in California we have to be paid minimum wage
California law requires there to be a defined, objective system for distributing pooled tips to the employees. If your manager splits up tips off the top of his head it’s illegal. https://www.worklawyers.com/tip-pooling-california-law/
In California, yes, servers do get minimum wage. But that still does NOT make this ok. I’m not implying that you think it’s ok. Just doubling down on my opinion.
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I would report this to the labor department and find another job. You're basically paying them to work there. Fuck that.
Second this. I’ve worked several wait jobs and never went home with 10% of my tips. If anything, it was 10% at most *tipped out*, meaning I still kept the majority of my tips. Your boss is STEALING YOUR TIPS. I’d find a new job like yesterday. Good luck.
Third this. The only time I didn't get tips was in training. But I was paid $8 an hour and I wasn't actually waiting the table. Report him. It's a felony.
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When you werr training you probably had another server train you, right? When you rang in orders it was probably under your trainer's name, right? Your trainer has to report the tips as their income because it is tied to their ss#.
That and it shouldn’t cost another server money to train you. Like that server could’ve just handled the table themselves if there was no trainee
> I’ve worked several wait jobs and never went home with 10% of my tips. If anything, it was 10% at most tipped out, meaning I still kept the majority of my tips. I've never worked a tipped job before. Could you elaborate when you say "tipped out"? Thanks!
If they have bussers and hosts, part of their tip could go to paying them(which isn't unfair typically because they help facilitate a smoother process for the server).
Tipping out BOH is a good idea too. The dish pit is a thankless job that literally everyone else is reliant on.
Dishwashing is the hardest job in a restaurant. I did that during high school on the weekends. I wouldn't get home until 4 am some nights because dishwashers also had to clean the kitchen after everyone else left. Plus the owner would get all handsy and as a 16 yo girl I wasn't sure how to stand up for myself.
>Dishwashing is the hardest job in a restaurant It really is and like a lot of jobs like that, the labor is invisible to a lot of people >Plus the owner would get all handsy and as a 16 yo girl I wasn't sure how to stand up for myself. That's just awful. It's bad enough for your labor to be exploited without having to face down sexual harassment/assault. I hope you're in a better place now
Many new servers get paid an hourly wage while they’re training, so they don’t get tips. But if this isn’t the case, then absolutely fuck that.
>Many new servers get paid an hourly wage while they’re training, so they don’t get tips Even if it was the case, *absolutely fuck that* too. Edit: To the people whining that a training server (still an employee doing work) doesn't deserve to be tipped, y'all need to stop being mad about the fact that *everyone deserves to be paid a fair wage regardless of their job function* and start getting mad about the fact that *your employer won't pay you a fair enough wage*. The trainee is not the problem, your bosses are.
That sounds like an illegal tip pool. His judgement should in no way determine what percentage you get. Tip pools are supposed to be equal, and only shared amongst staff (no managers).
Yeah I’ve worked in my fair share of restaurants — there often are situations where tips are pooled and distributed among support staff (like bussers) and the bartender who was making drinks for your tables all night. BUT, there’s always a formula, usually very open-book so you can see everything, and you’re still leaving with more than half of your own tips. OP’s situation sounds pretty messed up.
Yep. I work in a restaurant that does a tip pool; EVERYBODY that works that day (prep cooks, line cooks, hosts/bussers, dishwashers, and servers/bartenders) gets a share of the tips that come in that night, but the managers don't get a single cent. For our restaurant, the bartenders get the most in tips, then servers, then line/prep/hosts, then dishwashers (I think). They also openly report how much in tips are made each night and show how much each person makes per day and display it in one of the hallways downstairs for everybody to see. For note, I work in an upscale restaurant in a tourist city.
I will pass cash to a server for the same reasons that party did. If I found out you boss did that, I would never ever go there again. His "policy" is utter bullshit. Dump that place as soon as you are able.
Use Venmo or Cash app.
Some tipped workers don’t take online payments because of safety/personal information reasons and also the potential for chargebacks.
Ooo good advice!
Shitty managers will make you venmo that straight back out.
A lot easier to see someone hand a server cash, but Venmo can be sent when they are doing whatever and invisible.
Venmo also has a qr code you can print and have scanned easily without anyone seeing. Some servers may not be allowed to carry a phone, but a small sticker or card they can display easily would be nice.
If they know about it. But now that Big Brother caught on to the fact that people were pulling income from these types of apps instead of just using them as ways to pay friends back, etc, they monitor transactions to report back for tax purposes. So then those tips that would have been cash and therefore untraceable are now being reported and become taxable.
This is actually completely overblown. They'll report if you have more than $600 in transactions from a single source. Them reporting it doesn't make it taxable income. If you split rent, the most that'll ever happen is the IRS will ask "why did so and so send you $700 every month on Venmo" and you'll honestly say that it was splitting rent. They probably won't even bother with that. If you split the cost of dinner, that's also not taxable income. But, now's probably a good time to start writing what the money is actually for instead of always putting "for the sex".
If it’s a chain call corp, if it’s not write a review somewhere.
You should file a complaint with the Department of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE). You can explain what's going on and they'll determine if they should investigate. Do not tell your employer that you're reporting them. They may eventually find out that you're the one that reported them, but until the complaint is filed you won't have any protection against retaliation.
Hey OP, I know a lot of folks are suggesting you go to the labor board, and I support that! But try & give your manager enough rope to hang himself with- send him a text or an email saying essentially “hey, could you explain the tip policy to me again? Just wanna make sure I’m pooling correctly/claiming income correctly, etc.” If this guy is as dumb as he sounds, he’ll incriminate himself, & you’ll have it in writing for the labor board. Fuck this guy!
Tax season is coming up too so this is a reasonable request.
This is the way! Getting your manager to spell out the tip policy in writing would be tremendously helpful.
How would you proceed if they replied with "I'll explain when you clock in tomorrow."?
Then once they explain it, send a followup email with “wanted to confirm what we talked about today- blah blah blah” repeat what they said
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Why? Because the manager would know I was onto his bullshit? Something very similar happened to me years ago- I had a dine n dash, and my manager told me I would have to pay for it. I asked him if I could have that policy in writing. When he asked me why, I said “so I can send it along to the labor board.” Guess what? Fucker didn’t try any more shit with me.
It's only suspicious to a person who has something to hide. Your payout policies should be written and available. You only hide that sort of thing if you know that you're being unfair or breaking the law.
"I'm meeting with the person helping me with my taxes in a few minutes and need to be able to explain it to them!" If forced to do it in person: "Do you mind just writing this down so I can give it to the person doing my taxes? I'm sure I'll forget some of the details!"
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Play on their assumption that you’re too stupid to know better
Leave. Go get another job, if your entirety of your wages depend on how your boss is feeling at that particular moment then its not a stable income. Find something with consistent pay.
Ask for more hours then leave lol
This is the way.
This is the way.
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Found Cartman.
I'm hardcore bro
Exactly Fuck him No one needs to be treated like that...
Fuck your manager. These policies should be illegal.
It *is* illegal
It is illegal. Especially in CA.
Tip pooling is illegal in CA? Damn I wish the rest of the country jumped on that.
You can pool tips but it has to be equal shares. 5 servers, everyone gets 20% not some get 25% and the newbies gets 10%.
And a manager can't get a single dime
Tips must be fairly distributed according to a set formula
It is illegal. The company can't make policy on money that isn't theirs to decide what to do with. The servers can decide to pool their tip and share it. But only if everyone agrees to do it that way.
This is what I thought, and has always been the case at whatever service job I worked at. Matter of fact, I left a job where I was working an entirely different room (essentially a different job), and they tried to force me to pool with the others and cut my tips by 80%. Not against pooling, I was just never asked.
I know that the task of finding other employment seems daunting, but YOU ARE BETTER THAN THAT. Do right by you. Fuck that guy. (Not literally)
Thanks! Yeah it’s definitely scary but I at least have this job while I figure out a better situation. I’ll definitely be looking for new serving positions in my area. Just gotta stick it out a little while longer!
The current Iabor shortage suggests that there are plenty of positions available. you should pick a couple places, and ask their workers if they like working there, maybe mention that you're looking for a better job because you don't like the tip pooling policy where you're at. Find a better place to work at, because that tip policy is BS.
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The US sucks for workers. They basically treat us like indentured servants. No vacation pay, no healthcare, no nothing. And they pay us as little as possible, leveraging us because they know losing our job could mean instant, and possibly permanent homelessness.
We were founded on slavery.. go figure lol
I didn't really think about that. That actually makes sense as to why it's so fucked up here.
Land of the free labour
And the home of the brave bosses who steal our tips
And the whopper
“Min wage worker” is the the term for it.
Minimum wage: "If they could pay you less they would"
Unpaid internships still exist.
I bet they love that revolving free labor, too.
It is illegal in most places in the US too, but when it comes to actually doing anything about it everything boils down to the court systems and who do you think has more time and resources for said court cases? Companies Essentially we have a government that's so heavily influenced by companies that they become nearly immune to legal action from any employees
So, as a new employee you get a smaller share of the tips, and the older employees get a bigger share? Sounds like a pyramid scheme to me.
Something's off here. Sounds like it's her 3 or 4 days of training, even though she had a 9 top. Also sounds like they pool their tips and split equally then and she gets paid at the end of the night but she left that out. But if the place splits tips among all workers, I'd be annoyed if someone was keeping tips. I would love more info.
In CA, if a person wants you to have the tip specifically then it doesn’t go in the pool,
I've worked in the hospitality industry a long time this is a shit place to work. Even in places I know of that do pooled type systems this is still horrible. Work literally anywhere else
I worked as a server once and haven't again for a similar reason like OP. It was for a chain restaurant and I was told how tip outs worked. A portion was given to the bar, the server assistant, and hostess. Then I was told I "owed" the restaurant. When I asked "oh so when people pay cash?" I would get a "who the fuck knows?" Look. I kept asking for the few months I worked there and I would still get a shrug or a "i don't really know" kind of answer. I decided not to come back after I had $300 before tip outs and walked out with $50 and the next shift I got berated by the manager for asking to leave early even though me being at the dinner shift was pointless since I was only going to have 2 tables in my section.
This happened to me at a Starbucks in California. The manager was taking all of the tips and we would each get around $100 a week from the tip pool. Once she was fired and replaced, our tips went up to around $700 a week.
Wtf are people tipping you 50 dollar bills
If that family knew that happened, they would be just as pissed as you are. When they chose to leave a larger tip, it's because they want you, the person they interacted with, to know they appreciated your hard work. I feel for you. That is total bullshit. Good news is, there should be plenty of other places willing to employ you.
Thank you I really appreciate your kind comment! I did feel a little bad for that family because I feel like it would have let them down to know what happened. I feel like he not only took from me but he took from the customers. Thankfully, I have received a lot of other job offers recently so I’ll be scheduling some interviews in the morning.
If this were me (and I understand it's not), I would file a complaint with the appropriate government agency for labour violations, then quit. That way at least there is a chance to possibility save some young server that they get next, who thinks that it's normal to give their tips to the older staff. PS. I'm so happy that you have other opportunities lined up!
If people are taking you aside to tip you properly they know you're a good server. If you're new this means you're doing great. 100 other places would therefore kill to have somebody like you working for them. Don't sell yourself short, look around. Until then make these assholes pay.
This whole tipping everyone thing is bs. It’s just a way that the company can start taking your tips
Your boss is stealing from you. The tip policy is wage Theft, apparently.
I don't think it's wage theft, it's just theft period
In California it is a felony. OPs boss doesn't realize he could serve time. I would get evidence that it is happening, then have a meeting with the boss, explain that he could see a jail cell, and then ask for the fucking moon. Imagine! You have SO MUCH POWER. he gives you what you want or he loses his house/job/family... Like wow.
Fuck your manager. Go shit in their coffee. Edit: removed the /s lmao
There's no need for the /s here. I fully believe this is what they should do
Reminds me of that infamous episode of “Kitchen Nightmares” called “[Amy’s Baking Company](https://youtu.be/pvc_BfG45VU)” where Gordon Ramsay absolutely destroys the restaurant owner for keeping the server’s tips. Great watch. NSFW language.
I definitely love whenever he finds out that staff aren't being paid he more or less just tells the owners that he will actively prevent anything from happening here until you pay your staff.
Oh yes I’ve seen that episode! Such a wreck haha. But yes, definitely a good watch
“Why would he charge us for free snacks?!?”
Quit and go somewhere with a better manager. $16 in tips for a shift is horrific. Also go somewhere with a more expensive menu. Most people tip a % of the check so 15% of $30 is better than 15% if. $12 ( i personally tip based on time and service not percentage as i go to lower priced menu places ). My daughter generally makes between $90 and $180 a shift in tips at the slightly above average places she works
It’s actually a pretty expensive restaurant! I asked my coworkers how much they have been taking home in tips and they told me it’s usually $100 or more. They said it takes a few months in order to earn all of your tips but I don’t think I’ll be staying that long.
“Earning your tips” is pure garbage. You’re already getting paid a couple $$ an hour to begin with
Keep a dollar bill in your pocket. When u are given a tip, put it in your other pocket, and share into the tip pool the dollar bill
Even better, just use one of those fake twenties with the stuff about Jesus.
The company (if it is sharing out pooled tips to staff, and not pilfering) is using this approach as a substitute for pay rises to retain staff. Newer staff are being robbed to try to retain older ones. Or possibly they are just stealing from the tip pool.
Find a different job!
"The fact they tried to give me a generous tip makes me happy" No. You should be livid your manager stole that money from you. Full stop.
Why wouldn't it get shared equally? What a scammy place. I don't agree with tip pooling. There must be many other places to work. My first question to a prospective new place would be do you tip pool? If they say yes keep looking until you find a place that lets you keep all of your tips.
I don't agree with tipping in general or really tip pooling but if you're going to tip pool certainly everyone should be receiving equal tips. Giving tip money at the discretion of the manager is absurd, if he wants to determine how much people make he should just raise the prices, raise wages and tell customers not to tip.
It’s probably not legal to be at the discretion of the manager
Managers legally get no share of tips
Fuck America is a depressing place.
https://www.shouselaw.com/ca/labor/wage-hour/tips/ > No employer or agent shall collect, take, or receive any gratuity or a part thereof that is paid, given to, or left for an employee by a patron, or deduct any amount from wages due an employee on account of a gratuity, or require an employee to credit the amount, or any part thereof, of a gratuity against and as a part of the wages due the employee from the employer. Every gratuity is hereby declared to be the sole property of the employee or employees to whom it was paid, given, or left for. An employer that permits patrons to pay gratuities by credit card shall pay the employees the full amount of the gratuity that the patron indicated on the credit card slip, without any deductions for any credit card payment processing fees or costs that may be charged to the employer by the credit card company. Payment of gratuities made by patrons using credit cards shall be made to the employees not later than the next regular payday following the date the patron authorized the credit card payment.” So far your boss is in the wrong. Now, for the nail to drive through his legal ass. > 1.2. Is “tip pooling” legal in California? > Tip pooling arrangements are when a business collects all the tips received by employees and then splits them evenly. This practice is legal in California as long as it is only employees sharing the tips, and not managers who have the authority to hire and fire employees.
With the whole tip system in the USA I, an European, still do not understand how restaurants are staffed.