Tip pooling is a common practice in the restaurant industry. The 20 percent a diner leaves a waiter is divided among other staff, like the busboy or bartender.
When it's done correctly, it's perfectly legal, but in Texas there are many cases of illegal tip pooling.
Sheldon Wayne says he's seen it happen as a waiter at Joe's Crab Shack. His tips are pooled and split with the dishwashers and cooks. (Joe's Crab Shack did not care to comment for this article.)
"I'm really broke right now. I'm going to college and I'm just
trying to make money," he said.
Attorney Bob Debes says in many cases, tip sharing with management or the kitchen staff is illegal, and that many people in the service industry don't even know it.
Debes' law firm intends to file a class action lawsuit to stop the practice. He's advertising in Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Dallas soliciting potential clients.
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Labor laws
Many restaurants illegally share the wait staff's tips with other employees.
 
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"Quite honestly, the response has been overwhelming. It is a very prevalent practice here in the state of Texas to require waitstaff and bartenders to share tips with people who are ineligible under federal law," Debes said.
Employees who do not directly work with customers, like kitchen staff and managers, aren't entitled to tips.
"What's happening when these restaurants are placing the burden of their own operating expenses on the wait staff is that these waiters and bartenders who only get paid $2.13 an hour and who are working really only on the tips that they make, they're having to forfeit that," Debes said.
Glen Garey of the Texas Restaurant Associationsaid it's most likely a lack of education on the part of business owners.
"There isn't enough monetary gain, if there is any at all in
this, to be trying to do this intentionally. This is going to be
a mistake," he said.
But even small mistakes can lead to some pretty hefty consequences.
"If a restaurant is found to have violated these tip pool laws,
then they forfeit their tip credit and are required to pay for each
and every hour that that employee worked over the last two and
possibly three years," Debes said.
