Sarah M. Block
Wed, 07/26/2023
Unfortunately, employers routinely violate the rules governing the pay of employees who earn tips, resulting in tipped workers being paid below the amount to which they are entitled under the law. Tips are the property of employees and cannot be shared with supervisors or managers, nor can they be taken by the employer to cover its expenses.
Sheila Little, a slot machine attendant at the Wynn Las Vegas casino, recently filed a collective and class action lawsuit to recover monetary damages resulting from the existence of an unlawful, mandatory tip pool in which she was forced to share tips with supervisors. Specifically, Little alleges that slot machine attendants are required to unlawfully share between five and 15 percent of the pooled tips with slot leads, who are supervisors and managers, and that these unlawfully withheld tips were used for general business purposes, to pay hourly wages of other employees, or for personal use by management. Little seeks reimbursement of the unlawfully withheld tips. The case was removed to federal court and is now pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada under the name Little v. Wynn Las Vegas, LLC, No. 2:23-cv-01150 (D. Nev.).
Tips and gratuities are the property of an employee and cannot be retained by the employer. Under the FLSA, it is unlawful for an employer to require tipped employees to participate in a mandatory tip pool or tip-sharing arrangement whereby any portion of the tips are shared with managerial employees. Also, workers who are paid at the lower tipped wage cannot be required to share their tips with employees who do not regularly and customarily receive tips, such as back of the house workers.
If you are a worker who earns tips and have been required to unlawfully share your tips through a mandatory tip pool including managerial employees, contact MSE today by calling (202) 833-8855 or by completing our online form to speak to an experienced wage an hour attorney about your rights.
