Can my employer take part of my tips in California?
The short answer
The rule in California
| Who can’t touch your tips | Your employer and anyone acting for it can’t share in or keep any part of a tip left for one or more employees. |
|---|---|
| Required tip pools | Allowed, as long as the pool doesn’t pay the owners, managers, or supervisors of the business. |
| Tips and minimum wage | Your employer can’t use your tips as a credit toward the minimum wage. |
“Labor Code Section 351 prohibits employers and their agents from sharing in or keeping any portion of a gratuity left for or given to one or more employees by a patron.” (California DIR: Tips and gratuities FAQ)
What’s different in California
Federal wage law already bars your employer, managers, and supervisors from keeping tips. What changes in California is the wage underneath. Because tips can’t be credited toward the state minimum, your employer owes you the full $16.90 an hour before any tip lands. So a pool here never props up your base pay; every pooled dollar is extra money on top of wages already owed.
The labor office answer on involuntary pools is short. It names who a pool can’t pay (owners, managers, supervisors) and says nothing about which coworkers must be included, so ask your house to show you its written pool policy and the split each shift.
Official sources
Last verified
. Checked the agency pages linked above.
Still open: The labor office’s pooling answer is marked “updated March 2013.” It’s the office’s current page, but it hasn’t been revised since then.
Related
- The federal tip-pool rules
- More in California: Server minimum wage and pay · Paid sick leave · State tax on tips · Reporting time and split-shift pay · Benefits you can get
- Can my boss keep my tips or make me pool them in Illinois?
- Who can be in my tip pool in Pennsylvania?
- Can my employer make me tip out the kitchen in Washington?