Dine and Dash Kills Servers
You are a server in a busy restaurant on a Saturday evening. You are running around to every table to make sure that the customers are happy. The college students at table five have ordered quite a few drinks and a bunch of food.
While taking away some empty glasses, you accidentally drop one on your way back to the kitchen. Once you think that made your night as bad as it can get, when you return to the table, you find the customers have left, and there is no payment to be found.
Not only have you missed out on your tip, but now your employer wants to deduct the cost of the customer’s bill and the cost of the broken glass from the rest of your tips! In the end, after a 5 hour shift, you end up leaving with $30 in your pocket after all the deductions.
This happens all too frequently in the restaurant world.
What may seem like just a harmless dine and dash to the person committing the act is actually costing the servers money. However the practice of deducting the cost of a walk-out or broken glass from a server’s tips is illegal when an employer is paying the reduced “tip credit” wage (which allows employers to pay tipped employees less than minimum wage).
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is designed to help protect the rights of servers and bartenders, and sets requirements for minimum wage and other tip credit related aspects that employers must follow. However, the FLSA allows for deductions, as long as it does not deduct under minimum wage (1).
Additionally, the FLSA prevents employers from taking tip money from employees when employees are being paid the “server wage” which is less than minimum wage.
Some employers may push this too far by deducting every single penny they can from their employees.
Paychecks become lower and lower for those working hard to make sure that you get your food in a timely manner. Some states, such as New York, Massachusetts, and California have taken measures to make sure these things do not happen, but the overwhelming majority of states have no state laws which specifically forbid this practice; it is only illegal under Federal law.
Employers taking these kinds of deductions are like having waiters/waitresses act not only as servers, but security guards.
Imagine if WalMart charged their employees whenever something was shoplifted!
Recently in Ohio, a waitress was paralyzed after being struck by the vehicle of dine and dash customers after chasing them into the parking lot. Another similar case happened in Texas where the waitress was killed (2). This may never have happened if the servers didn’t have to fear deductions from their tips or paychecks.
Servers and bartenders work hard in the field of customer interactivity. When situations like this happen, not only are they losing out of a potential tip, but he or she may also be forced to pay the difference.
If you are a server or bartender in the state of Florida who feels you may be treated unfairly, we urge you to contact us immediately to find out how your rights can be protected.
References:
(1) http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs15.htm
(2) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/819149/posts
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