A featured story on Employment Law This Week is the Ninth Circuit's backing of the Department of Labor's rule on "tip pooling."
In 2011, the Department of Labor issued a rule that barred restaurant and hospitality employers from including kitchen staff in “tip pools,” which are sometimes used to meet an employer’s minimum wage requirements. The DOL ruled that kitchen staff should be excluded from pools even if the tips are not required to meet minimum wage obligations. Two district court decisions held that the department does not have the authority to regulate this practice outside of the minimum wage issue, but the Ninth Circuit recently reversed those decisions and upheld the department’s rule.
View the episode below or read more about this case in an earlier post on this blog.