Tips & Tip Credits
Employer keeping your tips or wrongly classifying you as exempt? We fight to recover your stolen wages and proper status.
Tips & Misclassification Cases
Two common ways employers cheat workers: tip theft and employee misclassification. Both are illegal, both cost you money, and both require aggressive advocacy to fix.
TIP VIOLATIONS
Requiring tip pooling arrangements that violate the law
Tip Credit Wage Violations
Tip credit allows employers in certain situations to pay tipped employees a lower direct wage, as long as tips make up the difference to the required minimum wage. However, strict federal and state rules apply. Employers cannot misuse tip credit to reduce wages, require excessive non-tipped work, or keep any portion of employees’ tips.
In New York and New Jersey, employers may claim a tip credit only if they strictly comply with state and federal wage laws. Tipped employees must earn enough in tips to reach the applicable minimum wage, and employers cannot use the tip credit when workers spend substantial time performing non-tipped duties or when they fail to provide proper notice. If your employer improperly claimed a tip credit, required excessive non-tipped work, or withheld any portion of your tips, you may be entitled to recover unpaid wages, lost tips, liquidated damages, and other penalties.
If your employer failed to follow tip credit laws, you may be entitled to recover unpaid wages, improperly withheld tips, liquidated damages, and other compensation. We review your pay practices, explain your rights, and help you pursue the full amount you’re owed under the law.
Confidential. Multilingual available. No fee unless we win your case.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
What evidence should I gather before consulting a tip credit violation attorney?
To help prove a tip credit violation, you should gather as much documentation as possible that shows your wages and tips. Helpful evidence may include:
- Pay stubs and time sheets: These records can show your hourly wages, the hours you worked, your tip income, and any tip credits or deductions taken by your employer.
- Personal tip tracking: Keep personal records of the tips you earn each shift, how much you contribute to a tip pool, and the exact amounts you receive from the pool.
- Tip-out sheets: Keep any workplace documentation that tracks tip pool contributions and distributions.
- Credit card receipts: These can help compare the tip amounts customers actually left versus the amounts you received.
- Company policies: Save any written materials that explain the company's tip-out requirements, tip pooling policies, or distribution formulas.
- Witness testimony: Identify coworkers who can verify how tips are distributed or confirm who participates in the tip pool.
Can my boss keep my tips?
Generally, no. Tips belong to the employees who earned them, except in lawful tip pools. Managers, owners, and supervisors usually cannot take tips from workers.
What is a tip credit?
A tip credit allows certain employers to pay tipped workers a lower direct hourly wage if the workers receive enough tips and if the employer follows strict legal requirements.
What happens if my employer takes a tip credit incorrectly?
If an employer improperly uses a tip credit, the employee may be owed the difference between what they were paid and the full minimum wage, plus possible overtime, damages, and penalties.
Do restaurant workers have special wage protections?
Yes. Restaurant workers often have claims involving unpaid overtime, illegal tip practices, tip theft, improper tip credits, unpaid spread-of-hours pay, and off-the-clock work.
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