Can I accept tips if I am a salaried manager but also work scheduled serving and bartending shifts?s?

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Can I accept tips if I am a salaried manager but also work scheduled serving and bartending shifts?s?

I work at a Mom and Pop restaurant as a manager. 1/2 the time I am acting manager
but there are 3-4 shifts a week that I work a shift as a server/bartender. If We
work a tip pool that night, and I work the shift as a server, can I accept the
tips? I have a disgruntled employee that has recently been terminated and is
claiming that the nights that we pooled tips over the past few years, he is owed
that money.
These were not shifts where I was managing. They are shifts that I worked
alongside the team as a server or bartender during that shift.
My salary is based on 1/2 managing shifts and the other half I work for tips.
I have never forced a staff member to pool with me when I was managing or give me
any type of tips when I helped them during the shift.

Asked on September 9, 2019 under Employment Labor Law, California

Answers:

M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 4 years ago | Contributor

For the time that you spend performing bartender/server duties, you are entitled to tips. For the time that you are acting as a manger, you are not so entitled. 

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 4 years ago | Contributor

When you work in a tipped position (e.g. as a server or a bartender) you can get tips for those times or shifts. The only restriction is you can only, as you seem to know, participate when you are functioning a tipped position--when acting as manager, you may not participate in tips.


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