Some employers require their tip-based, hourly employees to place a percentage of their tips into a collective pool. The pool is then divided among the tipped employees. This arrangement is often referred to as tip pooling.

Under federal law, employees who receive tips as part of their general compensation, such as wait staff, bartenders, bellhops and others, can be required to share and/or pool their tips if the following guidelines are met:

The percentage and/or amount of tips contributed to the pool must be customary and reasonable, and must not make any employee’s wage fall below the legal minimum wage;

1. Tips must be fully redistributed;
2. The redistribution of tips must follow a pre-arranged formula and must be consistent;
3. Tipped employees cannot be forced to share their tips with others who do not customarily receive tips, such as kitchen staff and managers; and
4. Employers cannot pay themselves out of the employee tip pool.
5. Employers violate tip pool laws if any of the above conditions are not met.

At Stepter Law Office, we are dedicated to protecting the rights of employees who have been harassed, discriminated against, retaliated against, or otherwise treated illegally in the workplace. If you feel you have been forced to pool your tips unlawfully, please contact the Columbus, Ohio employment attorneys at Stepter Law Office today.