Can my employer make me tip out the kitchen in Washington?
WashingtonVerified September 23, 2026
The short answer
Yes, it can. Washington L&I says employers may set up tip pools or require you to tip out other employees, and a pool can include staff who don’t serve customers directly, like kitchen staff and hourly lead workers. Business owners and salaried-exempt managers can’t be in it. You can’t be required to put in more than you got in tips, and every tip must go to employees.
The rule in Washington
| Tips belong to | Employees. The employer can’t take tips for company use or to pay wages. |
|---|---|
| Pools and tip-outs | Employers may set up tip pools or require employees to tip out other employees. |
| Who can be in the pool | Staff who don’t serve customers directly, such as kitchen staff and hourly lead workers. |
| Who can’t | Salaried-exempt managers and business owners. |
| Contribution cap | You can’t be required to put more into a mandatory pool than you received in tips. |
“Employees cannot be required to contribute more than they received in tips to a mandatory tip pool.” (Washington L&I: tips and service charges)
What’s different in Washington
Under federal law, whether cooks can share a required pool turns on your cash wage. In Washington that question mostly goes away, because the state allows no tip credit: you earn the full $17.13 an hour first, and L&I says outright that kitchen staff can be in the pool.
The line on managers is drawn differently. L&I excludes salaried-exempt managers and owners, and names hourly lead workers as eligible. The cap on contributions protects a slow night: a pool based on sales can’t take more than you actually made in tips. Service charges have their own rule too; if the house doesn’t clearly disclose where a charge goes, the whole charge goes to the worker who served.
Official sources
Last verified
. Checked the agency pages linked above.