Tip Theft?
April 14, 2017 12:31 PM   Subscribe

My sister recently started working for a franchise of a national US quick-service chain. They have a tip jar on the counter and credit card receipts have a tip line, but none of the employees get tips paid out - management says that instead they get one free meal per shift. I asked where the tips go and she said she thinks it's to the store owner. This seems immoral to me, if not illegal. What would you do?

She is 18, paid minimum wage (not tipped wage), and this is her first real job. She is not really concerned, but I am outraged both on her behalf and as a customer who has tipped many times before. She doesn't want to rock the boat, and I get that, but is there something I can do? My first instinct is to make a big stink about this on social media or to contact the corporate office, but I'm worried my name will tie back to her and cause repercussions. I want her and her coworkers to be treated fairly, but have no idea how to go about helping. Any advice would be appreciated.
posted by galvanized unicorn to Work & Money (14 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
She should check with her state's employment commission (which probably has the relevant information on their website, it's a common query) about the laws, and then consider filing a complaint with them.
posted by Lyn Never at 12:38 PM on April 14, 2017 [4 favorites]


Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which is federal law, tips are property of the tipped employees, however tip pooling is allowed among employees who customarily receive tips.

See: (1) Fact sheet published by the U.S. Department of Labor, (2) Nolo Press article
posted by PlannedSpontaneity at 12:40 PM on April 14, 2017 [2 favorites]


Best answer: It's illegal, regardless of whether they receive minimum wage or tipped minimum. If customers believe the money is a tip, the employer must distribute the money as a tip. There have been numerous lawsuits about this in the past, you could google "tips lawsuit [your state]" to get an idea of past lawsuits in your state, and lawyers who might take this on (on contingency if there are enough workers involved).

Some options:
Report to the state Department of Labor. Most states will have a hotline.
Start a petition on coworker.org which is designed for stuff like this.
Depending on the city, you may want to contact the Department of Consumer Affairs or elected officials- both consumers and workers are being lied to here so you can pursue both angles.
posted by cushie at 12:41 PM on April 14, 2017 [14 favorites]


The details of tip law depend on your jurisdiction. If you can include what city/state/country this is in, folks might be able to help a bit better.

If this is illegal in your jurisdiction, then contacting the DA's office would be a legit step. Sometimes the Labor department handles these complaints. It really depends. Sometimes this can be done anonymously, sometimes not.

She is not really concerned, but I am outraged both on her behalf and as a customer who has tipped many times before.

So. I'm right there with you, and I would raise hell about this...but this is her first job. And before you make any moves (anonymous or not) you ought to check with her. Unemployment is still pretty high for younger kids, and any leg up they can get, they need. If her tenure at this job is cut short, it could reduce her chances at getting a better job going forward. If this is really burning you, wait for her to move onto another job, then raise hell. She might get compensated retroactively if there are laws against how they're managing this.
posted by furnace.heart at 12:43 PM on April 14, 2017 [11 favorites]


Best answer: Also, since this is a chain, that works in your favor. chains fear rule violations like this because it will get them shut down. This is most likely the manager/franchiser/whatever exploiting the fact he works in a job with a lot of young and first-time people, and is almost certainly directly padding his own pockets with the tips that are meant to reward the workers for doing a good job. the lefty in me is absolutely outraged. this is not some small thing, this is outright theft being completed by exploiting vulnerable workers. Contact corporate. The do not need to know your relationship to an employee.
posted by FirstMateKate at 12:50 PM on April 14, 2017 [30 favorites]


When distributed amongst the employees on the shift, is the average individual total tip amount less than what the free meal is worth?
posted by miles1972 at 1:08 PM on April 14, 2017 [3 favorites]


I would consider mentioning it in a yelp or google review. Obviously without any mention of your friend.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 1:24 PM on April 14, 2017 [3 favorites]


Yeah, as @miles1972 says, the free meal is probably worth more. What kind of quick-service chain is this? The ones that come to mind aren't the kind of places where people tip.
posted by at at 1:29 PM on April 14, 2017 [1 favorite]


At least where I live, I can think of two quick service chains- Moe's and Five Guys, both of them the workers make minimum wages, get tips, and also get a free shift meal. I would not be surprised if a shift meal is company policy, and this boss is just using "oh you get a shift meal" as a way to keep the heat off of him for stealing tips.
posted by FirstMateKate at 1:39 PM on April 14, 2017 [30 favorites]


I used to work at a place like that. The owner would buy lottery tickets with the money and told us that we'd get a share of any winnings. After a while, one of the other co-workers and I noted that it was odd that, with that much money, there had never been so much as a small win and that we had never put our names on anything and how would they know who worked there, who should be included and whatnot. It seems fraught with legal issues, especially since our local lottery said everybody had to sign a ticket. Plus they would make us use the tips to round out any errors when we cashed out at night, which was ridiculous because we had this manager who was illiterate and honestly did not understand decimal points -- I'd have to stay there for half an hour, explaining we were out a quarter, not $25. So we stopped putting the money in and just split it off camera, since we confirmed with Employment Standards people that the tip belongs to the employee. I must emphasize that we confirmed this with the Employment Standards department, though. I wouldn't do this if you live somewhere that it is illegal and you really need to make sure everybody on your shift is okay with it, in case someone turns around and accuses you of stealing.
posted by shockpoppet at 4:39 PM on April 14, 2017


Employer-provided meals are tax-deductible for employers "if furnished on your business premises for your convenience" or "if de minimis" (IRS Pub 15-B). That free meal to fast food employees is absolutely for the employer's convenience rather than the employee because it keeps the employee on the premises and reduces late returns from meal breaks, thus it costs the employer rather less than one might expect.
posted by Radiophonic Oddity at 4:56 PM on April 14, 2017 [4 favorites]


That is flat out illegal in the US. Period, end of story. It is wage theft in the eyes of the law. A shift meal, whether free or discounted, is completely irrelevant, just like any other employer provided benefit.

An employer can't take an employee's tips because they offer subsidized health insurance, so how does it make sense that they can take them to pay for meals? If there is an option in your state for anonymous reporting to the department of labor, do that. If your sister is the most recent hire, you may want to wait for a bit more turnover to happen, but otherwise, report, report, report. This is straight up theft. It is no different than them robbing the employee's bank or pilfering cash from the employee's wallet with the justification that they are offering the employee some benefit beyond the wage they are paid.
posted by wierdo at 10:36 PM on April 14, 2017 [5 favorites]


Do employees have to have these meals? what if someone does not like to eat them or want to get some fresh air instead of staying on premises during the break?
posted by Oli D. at 2:39 PM on April 15, 2017


Response by poster: Ah thanks everyone. I am glad to know I wasn't overreacting. My sister said that several of her coworkers are upset about this (which is why she brought it up with me), so I have passed on the information provided and they are going to discuss how to move forward.
posted by galvanized unicorn at 8:25 PM on April 15, 2017


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