The U.S. Department of Labor’s latest final tip pool rule provisions will take effect on November 23, 2021. For further discussion on other provisions of the final rule that were implemented in April 2021, please see Lake Effect’s prior blog on this topic.
The following provisions of the final tip pool rule will take effect on November 23, 2021:
- Managers and supervisors may keep tips they receive for services provided “solely” by the manager or supervisor and “directly” to customers. This clarification to the traditional prohibition on managers and supervisors receiving tips in a tip pool or tip sharing arrangement recognizes the reality that managers and supervisors are often called upon to perform tipped duties in the course of their workday. This means, for example, when a bar manager is working as a bartender to fill in for an absent bartender or during a slow shift, the bar manager may keep tips received directly from patrons at the bar. Similarly, when a salon manager receives tips from a client for a haircut done by the salon manager, the salon manager may keep the tips.
- Managers and supervisors may contribute some of their tips received from their “sole” and “direct” work into mandatory tip pools or sharing, but they may not receive any tips from a tip pooling or tip sharing arrangement. Further, an employer may require (or may allow) managers and supervisors to contribute part of their “sole” and “direct” tips into tip pooling or sharing arrangements, but, again, managers and supervisors may not keep or receive employees’ tips, or other managers’ and supervisors’ tips, in any arrangement.
- Employers may face fines up to $1,100 for each instance that the Department of Labor finds an employer took an employee’s tips, regardless of whether the violation was repeated or willful. This now encompasses employer behavior that is in “reckless disregard” of the FLSA regulations and situations when an employer should have explored if its behavior was compliant but failed to do so.
Lake Effect is here to answer your questions about federal and state wage and hour laws that impact employers across all industries. We continue to monitor important legal and HR developments, as well as COVID-related updates from federal, state, and local authorities. Please watch our blogs and emails for these important updates, as well as discussions of how compliance meets culture. To dive into these issues, contact us at info@le-hrlaw.com or 1-844-333-5253.
