Two Louisville coffee shops allowed managers to keep a portion of 125 employees’ tips, which violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by diverting tips to the managers.
The U.S. Department of Labor recovered more than $188,000 for workers at Please and Thank You LLC and Sunergos Coffee Ltd. Co. LLC, according to a Feb. 6 news release.
“Federal law protects earned tips to make sure they are paid to the workers who received them for their good service,” Karen Garnett-Civils, Wage and Hour Division District Director in Louisville, Ky., said, according to the release.
Store managers were found to have participated in tip pools, which is a violation of the FLSA that prohibits managers from keeping any portion of tips earned by employees, according to the release. The division recovered $108,705 in back wages and liquidated damages for 55 Please and Thank You employees and $79,715 in back wages and damages for 70 Sunergos workers.
This follows the recovery of $300,000 in back wages and liquidated damages for 492 workers at Heine Brothers Inc., which was also accused of redistributing and diverting tips to managers, the release reported.
“Food service workers are frequently harmed by the kind of wage violations found in the investigations here in Louisville,” Garnett-Civils said, according to the release.
The Department of Labor offers multiple tools and confidential compliance assistance to help employers understand their responsibilities and avoid costly consequences, the release reported. The agency's toll-free helpline can be reached at 866-487-9243 and the department can provide assistance in more than 200 languages.
