Tipped Employee Lawyer for Wage Theft & Stolen Tips

You work hard for your tips. You deal with demanding customers, run for hours on your feet, and count on that money to pay your bills. When you end a long shift and your pay just does not add up, it is a terrible feeling.

Many restaurant and bar owners count on you not knowing your rights. They use confusing rules about tip pools and side work to pocket money that belongs to you.

This is wage theft. It is illegal. This guide explains how it happens and how a tipped employee lawyer can help you get your money back.

Under federal law, the minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. But for tipped employees, like servers and bartenders, the law gets complicated.

Your employer can pay you a much lower direct wage, just $2.13 per hour. This is only legal if they take a “tip credit.” This means your $2.13 wage plus your tips must add up to at least the $7.25 minimum wage.

If you have a slow week and your tips plus your $2.13 wage do not equal $7.25 per hour, your employer must pay you the difference.

This system gives employers many ways to steal from you.

Wage theft is not always as simple as a manager snatching cash from the tip jar. It often looks like a “house rule” or just “how things are done.”

1. Illegal Tip Pooling

Tip pooling, or tipping out, is legal. But the rules are strict. An illegal tip pool is one of the most common forms of theft.

Here is the main rule: Managers, supervisors, and owners can never be part of the tip pool.

It does not matter if your manager ran food or helped at the bar. If they have the power to hire, fire, or tell you what to do, they cannot take your tips.

There is another rule: If your employer uses the tip credit (pays you $2.13), the pool can only include other tipped employees. This means cooks, dishwashers, and other back-of-house staff cannot be included. If your boss forces you to tip out the kitchen, they may be breaking the law.

2. Too Much Unpaid Side Work (The 80/20 Rule)

Do you spend your first hour rolling silverware and stocking? Do you stay hours after closing doing deep cleaning, all while making your server wage?

This is a classic wage theft tactic. Your boss is getting cleaning labor for $2.13 an hour.

The law has a clear “80/20 Rule”:

• An employer can only pay you the $2.13 tipped wage if at least 80% of your time is spent on tip-producing work (like serving, taking orders).
• No more than 20% of your time should be spent on “tip-supporting” side work (like refilling salt shakers, folding napkins).

If you spend more than 20% of your workweek on this side work, your employer must pay you the full minimum wage ($7.25) for that time.

3. Service Charge vs. Tip Confusion

Have you ever worked a large party and seen a mandatory “service charge” on the bill? Many servers assume that money goes to them.

It usually does not.

• A Tip: This is a voluntary payment from a customer. It belongs to you (and the tip pool).
• A Service Charge: This is a mandatory fee that the restaurant adds. This money belongs to the restaurant, not you.

The theft happens when the restaurant is not clear about this. They make the customer think the service charge is a tip. The customer leaves little or nothing extra, and you lose out. The restaurant pockets the fee.

4. Illegal Paycheck Deductions

Your boss cannot use your paycheck as their personal bank to cover business costs.

• Walkouts & Breakage: Your employer cannot make you pay for a customer who “dined and dashed” or for a broken plate if that deduction drops your pay below the $7.25 minimum wage.
• Credit Card Fees: Your boss can deduct the credit card processing fee from a credit card tip. But they can only deduct the actual percentage. If the fee is 3%, they can take 3% of your tip, not 3% of the whole bill.
• Uniforms: They cannot deduct the cost of a required uniform or cleaning fees if it takes you below the minimum wage.

If any of this sounds familiar, you should speak to a lawyer. Trying to fight your boss alone is intimidating. They have the power, and they are counting on you to stay quiet.

A wage theft lawyer levels the playing field.

• We Investigate: We know what to look for. We will analyze your pay stubs and the restaurant’s policies to find the theft.
• We Calculate: We will figure out exactly how much money was stolen from you. This includes unpaid wages, overtime, and all your lost tips, often going back years.
• We Fight for You: We file a legal claim to recover your money. In many cases, employers must pay back your stolen wages plus an equal amount in damages. This can double your final recovery.

We Protect You: It is illegal for your boss to fire you, cut your hours, or punish you in any way for filing a claim. If they try, we will file a separate retaliation lawsuit.

Trust your gut. If your paycheck feels light, it probably is. You are likely a victim of wage theft if:

• Your manager takes a cut of the tips.
• You are paid $2.13 but have to tip out the cooks.
• You spend hours every shift doing non-tipped side work.
• Your boss made you pay for a customer walkout.
• You see “service charges” on bills, but never get that money.

You earned that money. Your employer has no right to keep it.

Do not wait. You only have a limited time to claim your stolen wages. Our firm helps workers like you every single day. We are not afraid to take on big restaurant groups or small-town owners.

Get a Free, Confidential Case Review

Contact us for a 100% free and confidential consultation. You can tell us your story, and we will tell you if you have a case. You risk nothing by calling, and you could get back thousands of dollars in stolen pay.

Call us at (615) 242-0434 or fill out our online form to get your free case review.