How Some Employers Exploit Tipped Employees?

No matter what your job is (waiter, bartender, busboy, or any other profile for that matter) earning tips at work requires hard work. Sooner or later, you will realize that making a living wage on tips depends on whether or not customers choose to tip well enough and whether the company plays games with the tip process. Unfortunately, many of the tipped employees do not know about the tip credit provisions and unscrupulous employers take advantage of the process.

If the amount of tips you regularly receive is more than $30 per month, you may be considered as tipped employee. You are entitled to keep your tips with you, but it also means that your employer can claim a tip credit.

To comply with the minimum wage regulations, your employer needs to still pay wages of at least $2.13 per hour, as the employer can claim up to $5.12 per hour as a tip credit. If your employer uses this credit then it suggests that your employer expects you to receive minimum tip of $5.12 per hour. The employer must provide you all the mandatory information before claiming a tip credit.

However, if the company does not provide you the mandatory information about the tip credit, it may be held accountable for unpaid wages and/or a tip credit violation. If you have any uncertainties regarding this, you can discuss your situation with a professional overtime and unpaid wages lawyer.

Nonetheless, your employer must notify you about few things such as below-

• The cash wage he is paying you should be at least $2.13 per hour.
• The additional amount claimed as tip credit cannot go beyond $5.12 per hour.
• The tip credit claimed cannot go over the amount of tip you actually receive.
• You are entitled to keep your tips, unless there is any tip pooling agreement restricted to workers that usually receive tips. This is an important issue! The company itself and/or management is not allowed to keep a portion of your tips.
• No tip credit will apply to any of the tipped workers that have not been educated about the tip credit conditions.
• Overtime for time and a half is not $3.25 an hour! Overtime is the non-tipped minimum wage $7.25 with time and half, then subtracting the tip credit, which should put the hourly base rate at least $5 an hour for overtime.

If you believe that your employer has failed to tell you the required information about tip credits, you may be able to collect your lost wages. Speak with a professional lawyer to have your situation evaluated. You can book a free telephonic consultation session with these attorneys and you do not need to pay them any fee unless they win your case.

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How Can An Overtime Lawyer Help You?

Increasing wage and hour issues indicate that more and more employers are deliberately violating guidelines of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) to minimize labor expenses and increase their profits. Employers use numerous tricks to achieve their goals of wage theft. If you believe that your employer is violating your wage rights, you should raise your voice and seek help from a wage and overtime law firm.

Following are some of the situations when you should seek help from a labor lawyer to help get justice and resolve your present situation-

Misclassification of Employees- According to wage and hour laws, it is essential for employers to pay overtime to employees that are classified as non-exempt. However, many employers deliberately misclassify their employees as “salaried” to avoid paying money they are entitled to receive. Just because someone is salaried, doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be paid overtime!

Off the Clock Work-Employees are entitled to receive pay for all hours worked. However, in many situations, employers make their employees clock out and then work. It is against the law to make an employee work while they have signed off and workers are entitled to receive pay for this time.

No Minimum and Overtime Wages- It is essential for employers to pay their employees at least minimum federal wages and state wages for the state they reside. They also need to pay at least one and one-half times of their regular rates of pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. Not complying with these rules means that workers can seek help from a labor and employment attorney to file a case against the employer.

No Pay for Pre-shift and Post-shift- Many employees are not aware about their rights and become victim of wage theft in various situations. Employers mislead workers by passing information that pre-shift and post-shift work is not compensable. Such work may include security sweeps, computer boot up time, looking for a work station or waiting for a boss to arrive. Hence, it is essential for workers to know their employment rights.

Retaliation- The law protects employees from retaliation after they have raised issues associated with wage and hour violations. If an employer fires, demotes, or changes duties of their employees after the reporting of wage issues, it can be considered retaliation.

These are some of the situations in which you would need to discuss your circumstances with an experienced law firm to have your case evaluated.

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