Servers Must Be Paid By Restaurant, Even If They Receive Great Tips

The Department of Labor recently settled with a restaurant after the DOL found that the company had failed to pay its employees all applicable overtime and minimum wages by not paying minimum wage to dishwashers and to a server who was performing work for the restaurant while receiving compensation only in the form of tips.  The DOL further found that cooks, dishwashers, and servers did not receive appropriate time and a half overtime payments for their hours worked over forty in a workweek.  Even tipped hourly employees must received the tip server minimum wage directly from the employer, regardless of how much that employee makes in tips.  Violations of these requirements can results in two or three times the amount of unpaid wages, as well as reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.  See Acosta v. Café Misono Inc., No. 17-cv-11993 (D. Mass.).