California Wage Laws for Tipped Employees
You need to understand California wage laws for tipped employees. What is a tip? You may be wondering under which conditions you will be considered to have given out a tip and the conditions where you will be deemed to have paid for your services. A tip is simply the amount a customer gives out to an employee due to exceptional services. The client has to give out the tips without any force or obligation for him to hand over the tips.
California wage laws for tipped employees
A tip is the sole property of the employee
The law in California prohibits employers from taking gratuity of any amount left to customers as tips. The section 351 of the labor laws in California stipulates that the entire amount which will be left as a tip to the employee should be handed over to the deserving employee. If the customer leaves the amount to be deducted from the credit card, then the full amount should be given to the employee upon processing.
The employer may not deduct the cost of credit card transaction from gratuities.
If your company allows the customer to pay you a tip via a credit card, then the whole amount which will be indicated on the credit card as a tip should be given to you at the time the credit transaction will proceed and paid to you by the credit companies. The employer is not allowed to deduct any amount as processing fees.
CA employers may not credit tips against wages to meet the requirements of minimum wage laws
The tips the customers offer you should not be used to pay you to meet the minimum wage amounts set in California. The tips are a show of appreciation due to the services you offered the customer, and the amount should not be deducted from your salary or used to pay you wages.
Employers are allowed to impose a mandatory tip pooling policy.
Sometimes the customer will leave a tip to the waiter. But, for the server to access the tip, the staff at the kitchen who cooked the food or the host at the front of the restaurant also contributed to the services. The employer can impose tip pooling where the tip will be shared equality to all staff as a way of trying to be fair to other employees who do not come into direct contact with the customers, but they had a great contribution to the company. Managers who have rights to fire and hire are not allowed to share the tips.
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