American restaurant threatens to fire waiters for tipping

A Medford, US restaurant will have to pay a fine of more than $375,000 to force waiters to tip.

by Luca Venturino November 14, 2022

According to what was leaked from an investigation conducted by the Labor Department in United State, a Resturant Oregon started threatening to fire waiters who refused to deliver Tips received from clients. Bonsai managers Teriyaki and Sushi – that is the name of the place in question – used to collect, at the end of each service, the advice from the seven waiters who worked in the restaurant: a beautiful and good violation of it. – called the Fair Labor Standards Act, which specifically states that employers may not confiscate employee gratuities “under any circumstances.”

No tips but higher salaries: both sides of the coin

When the fruit rots, it is not always enough to remove the rotten part. In other words, the spoiler has a bad habit of liquidation and expansion: to great surprise no one has ever, in fact, investigated the restaurant in question as well for not paying exceptional From their chefs – a fine combination of transgressions that resulted in a general fine of over 375 thousand dollar. It’s important to note, as reported, that the figure actually includes both back wages for kitchen employees and compensation for damages to other workers, with each employee receiving a figure between $16 and $93,000 in total. This isn’t the first time we’ve dealt with such a situation: Just a month ago, a Goldsboro, North Carolina, restaurant had to pay more than $150,000 to withhold tips from its employees.

The restaurant, of course, tried to defend itself, and to do so it turned to the Facebook audience: in a long post it was explained that while accepting the ruling of the Ministry of Labor, the owners used to pay twice the amount to the employees. Minimum salary Average working hours, which allows them to get more reliable income from tips, which of course have a more diverse nature. In fact, according to what was written in the publication, the restaurant had pledged to provide these “increased” wages even during the pandemic, when, of course, revenue had fallen significantly compared to the traditional system.

Moreover, in the same publication, it can be read that the transition to minimum wage plus tips led to the loss of part of the employees, who preferred to receive a higher gross salary and to “give up” the tips left by customers. And what about allegations of non-payment of overtime? Well, here too, of course, the restaurant spokesperson defended himself by declaring that he was always paying for over-hours, but some cards with the staff’s tables got lost. What a combination.