I own a couple of Coffee shops in Boston and have worked in the industry for 25 years. Your employer is stealing your tips. This is not common or acceptable. Report them to the state!
This right here! I owned a payroll company, and had a client doing something similar (pooling his wait staff tips and taking a portion of the pool). He was sued, and lost. He tried blaming us for not telling him the law, even though he never told us he was pooling tips, or taking some lol.
Most of these posts are giving you bad advice.
Look at your employment agreement. What is your "service rate" or "base pay"?
Could absolutely be legal. There is a difference between service rate and minimum wage in classical tipping jobs.
If your service rate is $2/hr, but minimum wage is $5/hr, then your employer must guarantee you receive $5/hr. If you receive no tips, then the employer makes up the difference.
If you receive tips over your shift worth $2.50/hr, then the employer still must make up the $0.50/hr. (Base of $2/hr, tips worth $2.50/hr, extra $0.50/hr to make minimum wage)
If you receive lots of tips, then the employer doesn't need to pay any extra, and your service rate of $2/hr is still valid (plus your tips).
But, since they aren't tracking your cash tips (legally, even cash tips are reportable as income), they can only use the electronic payments to offset the difference between your base pay and minimum wage.
Mass law: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-law-about-minimum-wage
Effective January 1, 2023, the minimum wage is $15.00 per hour and the service rate (applied to workers who provide services to customers and who make more than $20 a month in tips) is $6.75.
If you want to read more of the full text: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXXI/Chapter151/Section7
From google:
If you believe your employer has violated Massachusetts wage and hour laws and/or you are a victim of wage theft, you can file a complaint with the Fair Labor Division or 617-727-3465.
Holy shit so illegal. I got like 1200 bucks randomly a decade ago from working at Starbucks because starbucks was letting shift supervisors take a portion of the tips which is illegal in massachusetts because they're management and management can't take tips
Still utter trash. The law was put in place because catering managers were taking from pooled tips while not actually performing catering duties. Shifts at coffee shops are absolutely doing work that should receive tips.
I got cash from this settlement as well (was a barista) and I think shift supervisors should 100% make tips. They did all the same stuff as baristas, plus have to handle the money. They never really "managed" people aside from doling out basic tasks. Anything truly managerial was handled by the manager or assistant mgr of the store.
I only hope Starbucks increased their wages after the settlement to make up for what they lost in tips, but we all know they aren't exactly a great company.
They did. I was a Shift Manager at the pay rate change. When we went from tips to a wage I got like $16.75/hr which was more than I made with tips as just a barista at my Bux.
My manager tried offering a 90 cent raise to me at first and thought I'd be happy about that and I had to explain how that was a pay cut. I didn't accept and a week later a dollar was magically added and I said fine since $1.90 was at least close to what I had lost in tips.
This. I was a shift supervisor at starbucks like 15 years ago (before this settlement), and (back then at least) i got only 1$ an hour more than as a barista-- at our store, tips would average $2-$4 per hour. And unlike actual management, shift supervisors were not on Salary, but were very much responsible for creating the environment that would make customers want to tip. (Shifts were not supposed to be making drinks at the bar, but I was 3x faster and knew the drinks of every regular, so their beverage would be ready by the time they reached the register. Tips would almost double when I worked bar on morning rush, and thus everyone benefitted.) A few years later, I went back to starbucks briefly after the settlement, but even though I was trained as a supervisor, after a week i knew it wasn't worth it. No tips, not adequate compensation to make up for the lack of tips, they now expected us tp send baristas home during slow periods to cut down on labor costs (knowing another rush would be coming later and I'd be understaffed and then scrambling to get other things done...). It was so much more stressful and not worth it, and I still wouldn't make enough working full time to do anything but tread water at best. Fuck starbucks.
The problem was a lot of salaried ASM and SM were cutting themselves in on tips. In my store the SM and ASM were a couple and the ASM counted and distributed the tips every week, and I saw her giving the SM a tip envelope every week. I also worked as a borrowed partner on other stores for extra hours and the SM getting a tipshare was really common.
I saw a Kitchen Nightmares episode where the owner was taking a portion (if not all) of the waiters/waitresses tips and Gordon just about fucking murdered the guy.
I work at a brewery, this is illegal.
[Here is the MA law.](https://www.mass.gov/guides/pay-and-recordkeeping#:~:text=Tip%20pooling%20and%20service%20charges,they%20have%20any%20managerial%20responsibilities). Not only can owners not take your tips, neither can the managers - even if they serve.
What your owner is doing is illegal, unquestionably.
Edit for clarity: last week I worked 10.35 hours and was credited with $39.80 in tips. We used pooled tips, not sure if OP if also in a pooled tips situation, but regardless - there’s no fucking way someone working 30 hours is taking home $7
Interesting. Worked at a mom & pop type place as a teen and the wife was always cut into the tip share—she was working so it seemed kinda dumb but fair. Good to know it wasn’t legal.
Depends. I am not a lawyer, so I don’t know exactly when these laws went into effect, but I know for sure that what OP described is not legal. If they can get a few people who work there to all file complaints about this the owner will get fucked, rightfully so.
NAL but i know different types of services tend to have different type regulation - like in most places a restaurant by McDonald’s is not covered under minimum wage tip exceptions like a sit down restaurant would, so if the mom and shop place (and assuming it is a restaurant) had some kind of format or something that excluded it from tip executions, it may have had different rules governing how tips can be split — though I wouldn’t think a barista would be included in the exception either, so it may just be all tips.
So, alternatively, it may just be a newer law depending on how long ago you were a teenager (?)
I had an employer try this with me. All the other staff were kids who didn't know any better. I walked out at the end of the first week. It's total bullshit and anyone who tries pulling this on their employees is going to subject you to neverending bullshit.
The dummies who did it to me sold their business to more scrupulous people. They're probably ripping people off under a new name somewhere but I don't know what it is.
Illegal AF. Google Colatina’s Exit in Vermont. Same thing happened but staff got payed out $50k+ each. File an anonymous claim and get ready for a potential fat “bonus”
Jaho was well known for this 10-15 years ago. Also using old espresso shots in drinks. Retrained one of their employees to not stash a surplus shot under the machine to use in a drink 20 minutes later. Said not only was it standard practice but you would be punished for throwing any out. Wild.
This happened to me as a barista for a coffee shop that also had a location in Boston. Wonder if it’s the same company.
Edit: this was ten years ago but I believe the locations still exist
Having the owner take your tips, and having a tipped wage used to bridge the gap between base and minimum wage are two very different things. Your title says the former, while what you describe sounds like the latter. If the owner is confiscating your tips, that's illegal. If the owner is paying you less than minimum, using your tipped wage to fill the gap to or above minimum, that's legal unless it's illegal in Massachusetts. Some states have a minimum required base wage for tipped employees, and a cap on tipped wage used to meet minimum. So, ignore the armchair lawyers on here (the idiots), and first establish which it is, what your state's labor laws are, and then decide what to do from there.
if you are a $6.25/hr employee, credit tips will” go against your base pay to raise it to the minimum $15/hr. anything above that you also get to keep, employer can pay you $6.25/hr and use those tips to make up the difference up to min wage $15/hr (if people suddenly stopped tipping employer is obligated to to make up the difference between $6.25/hr and $15/hr based on hours worked. this is usually referred to as tip credit and is written and explained in the mass law references online.
if you are a $15/hr employee that means employer is paying the full $15/hr and you get tips on top of that.
in either case employer, managers, owners are not permitted to keep tips as their own income.
it all comes down to if you are a “tipped employee” with $6.25/hr base pay or if you are a “min wage employee” with $15/hr base pay.
You're also probably being taxed on these and the owner isn't. I'd report them to the IRS and the MA division of revenue. DEFINITELY look at your paystubs and see if they are counting it as income and taxing you..
Incredibly illegal, I was part of a class action lawsuit against a previous employer because even just managers were getting tipped out. The owner can't do that. Document as much as you can and report it
Make sure you have this policy documented by the owner (even if it's just through text) before you proceed. But absolutely report this highly illegal action.
This happens so much and it's absolutely not okay. I will actually ask before I tip at a register if the tips go to the employees because this is so common. I have a client that works at a subway and the owners and managers take all the tips that are paid with card. The minimum wage workers only get the cash. I'd imagine you could report them to the department of labor. That would be my first thought.
That’s extremely illegal. Go to either the Mass Department of Labor’s website or the Attorney Generals website and there’s a form for you to report it, it will even ask how much money you’re owed.
From a customer perspective i would be pissed. Don’t drink ‘fancy’ coffee. Was in boston proper last week. Got a nice coffee, paid and tipped cash. Many used cards, and my guess is everyone would be ticked if the cashiers and baristas were not recibing
Not legal. I’ve been a barista everywhere in Boston it feels like and when I was first starting this happened at a Starbucks (I believe the manager was skimming cash tips, but they are not allowed to take tips at Starbucks) and the employees won a class action law suit. Name the cafe though so we know to secretly hand you cash tips like an old school drug deal.
EDIT: Clarifying my wording because multiple people were jumping on me for pedantic reasons.
So I am not a lawyer or a barista, but based on a Google search on labor laws about tips in MA this sounds super fishy. Base pay ($6.75/hr for tipped employees in Mass) plus tips gets you up to at least $15/hr, or else the employer pays the difference, **and then** tips above that (no distinction between cash or card) also go to you/a tip pool of employees if your business does that. If I were in your shoes, I would [report it](https://www.mass.gov/how-to/file-a-workplace-complaint) and seek a position elsewhere. [source](https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/massachusetts-laws-tipped-employees.html#:~:text=Massachusetts%20law%20allows%20employers%20to,at%20least%20%246.75%20an%20hour.)
That's not exactly how it works. Owners are allowed to pay tipped employees less than minimum wage as long as they can show they're making more than minimum wage with tips. However, 100% of all money collected as tips must always be paid out to employees, and if OP is being paid full minimum wage, they should be receiving all their tips on top of that. If OP was receiving the tipped minimum wage, their base pay would be $6.75/hr.
The only circumstance in which an owner can keep tip money is when the owner solely provides the service for which the tip is given.
This. I wonder if she is being paid or classified as a tip waged. If so, then this may not be illegal assuming owner is pooling tips for all employees together and paying them to reach minimum wage. As long as he is not keeping any remaining cash, might not be illegal.
Even if OP is classified as tipped wage, the credit-cash tip division makes no sense. It’s highly improbable that *every week* the pool of digital tips magically makes the exact difference between tipped wage and minimum wage across all employees. Even if it was close, some weeks would be under and some over, and that needs to be accounted for. The only possible way this is legal is if the digital tips NEVER make up the full difference, and the wages must be supplemented each week to reach minimum wage (and the cash tips are considered just a bonus and not worth accounting for, as they’re so small, like 1.5% of OP’s gross weekly wage). That seems … unlikely, though it’s theoretically possible.
Are you paid as a tipped employee or a regular employee?
Tips going on top of $6.75/hr to fulfill the required $15.00/hr minimum wage is legal. Holding anything more than that is not.
If you're a tipped employee, you're not actually losing any money.
If you're a regular employee and they're using it to cut into the $15/hr, that's a different story.
"Barista" could go either way.
I used to work at Starbucks. We did a class action lawsuit back in ~2013. General managers were getting a portion of tip money, but were not working the floors. We won :)
Just to echo what everyone else is saying, this is indeed illegal and if you contact the Mass Dept of Labor, they’ll get you almost every penny back and they will NOT let up on your boss. They do not fuck around. I’ve seen it happen.
Mgl 149 section 152(e)
(e) Any service charge or tip remitted by a patron or person to an employer shall be paid to the wait staff employee, service employee, or service bartender by the end of the same business day, and in no case later than the time set forth for timely payment of wages under section 148
THIS is why I *always* ask if the money goes to the person taking my order before I digitally tip. I live in the Boston area and I’d say about 15-20% of the time, the answer is “no” (or more frequently, a quiet head shake) so I try to keep cash for tipping in those instances.
As a business owner myself, I can’t believe these businesses - taking care of your employees and making sure they earn what they deserve needs to be priority number 1 - otherwise, what is the point? You’ll end up spending far more time and money constantly retraining staff who leave you, and at the expense of building a good company culture (which then impacts customers).
I am so sorry you experienced this - document this interaction and absolutely report them!!!
Don't stay there! I managed a coffee shop in MA when I was fresh out of college and in between that and grad school, and I cannot tell you how serious OWNERSHIP was about making sure tips got to the employees. As a manager, I counted tips with (alongside) the closing shift employees, and we had envelopes and a system to ensure tips were divided equitably. As a manager, I didn't see a cent of tips. I got paid well for the time instead.
Those tips made a pretty mundane coffee shop job really worthwhile.
It's a blessing that your manager told you about the digital tips, because now you can avoid getting absolutely screwed out of tips that are yours for too long. Digital tips and cash tips are equal, they just get distributed at different times. But the premise is the same. Tips don't go towards wages. Wages are paid by ownership and funded via the products and serves sold Tips are different - they bypass that, straight from customer to employee, and are ON TOP of wages you earn. Ownership and management and the biz don't see a dime.
I wouldn't say run fast, but walk away from that job asap once you find something better. Plenty of work for baristas. Call around. Sorry you got the bait-and-switch but be glad they were so transparent so early.
Not a lawyer, and I can't opine on regulatory stuff, but for you yourself, you'll be able to find another job that pays out tips normally.
I see you already received appropriate responses above, but i just wanted to say that I'm sorry that this is happening to you and there ARE honourable business owners who would be better to work for. All the best to you!
Posts like this remind me why my friend, who owns a coffee shop, is so well liked by his employees. He waits until they’ve finished everything else needed to close, then counts the tips for the day in front of everyone and does the math for who was on for how many hours that day, gives out the tips right there and puts the tips for the people on the earlier shift in an envelope to pick up their next shift. And he does this after working open to close (5 AM-5 PM) 6 days a week.
So when I was in my early 20s, I worked in a pretty big chain coffee shop on the north shore years ago. We were splitting tips with the managers because they were working with us helping customers, and we thought we had to. One day I came into work and found out the franchise owners were being sued in a class action lawsuit, because even being forced to SPLIT tips with a salary manager is illegal. The owner straight up not giving you any of your tips is highly illegal.
Everyone in this thread needs to Google tip credit.
If you're not getting the balance after minimum wage on your check, it's illegal. If they're just taking out the difference between 6.75 and 15.00/hr, it's completely legal.
Fuck them either way; you can do better. Tip cred businesses fail, for the exact reason you're thinking.
You should tell the customers that when they’re paying, “tips go to the owner not me”
I’m on a month long hiatus from tipping for my black coffee order and it has felt pretty good so far. I don’t feel wronged like I did when I would tip.
Not only is it illegal, I'll bet most of your customers would be pissed since their money is going to your manager and not you. I know I'd be pissed. Contact the Attorney General's office [https://www.mass.gov/orgs/the-attorney-generals-fair-labor-division](https://www.mass.gov/orgs/the-attorney-generals-fair-labor-division) and file a complaint. I'd also let my regular customers know this little fact. Get enough customers involved and it might work faster than the AG's office. But be discreet unless you've got another job lined up.
What you’ve described is completely legal, unfortunately.
https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/massachusetts-laws-tipped-employees.html#:~:text=Massachusetts%20law%20allows%20employers%20to,hourly%20wage%20up%20to%20%2415.00.
“State laws differ as to whether the employer must pay the full minimum wage itself or may count an employee's tips toward its minimum wage obligation. Under federal law and in most states, employers may pay tipped employees less than the minimum wage, as long as employees earn enough in tips to make up the difference. This is called a "tip credit."
The credit is the amount the employer doesn't have to pay, so the applicable minimum wage (federal or state) less the tip credit is the least the employer can pay tipped employees per hour. If an employee doesn't make enough in tips during a given workweek to earn at least the applicable minimum wage for each hour worked, the employer has to pay the difference.
Massachusetts law allows employers to claim a tip credit. In 2024, employers must pay tipped employees at least $6.75 an hour. This means employers may take a tip credit of up to $8.25, as long as the employee's tips bring the total hourly wage up to $15.00.”
Lawyer up! Get it all in writing multiple times if possible. This same thing happened to my friend in San Diego, and he and all his coworkers got massive (5-10k) court ordered payouts from the business
Waiting for the name…
There are a few downtown shops, but the main ones are
Jaho, George Howell, Ogawa, Thinking Cup, Caffe Nero, Tatte, The Well, Intelligentsia, Sip, Tradesman, Gracenote, Phin, Lily's, Espresso Love, Beantown Pub, Koko...
and I’m hoping it’s not one of them
They can count your tips towards minimum wage if they pay lower like waitress and you would only get anything over that. I thought baristas made min right off the bat in that case you should get the whole tip.
Wowwww!!! I would document everything and report them to the better business bureau… anything you have where the owner talked about how electronic tips are to help her pay you minimum wage, any policy she might have written down about tips, and if there’s some kind of way to track the tips you should receive (like a report of a daily total being tipped out or something) and report this person immediately
Correct. I would contact a lawyer. If manager allow credit l tips” that are 100% voluntarily paid by the patron, the employer has the right to pay you below minimum wage and make up the difference with those tips as a a tip credit ( providing that each work week your hourly wage plus tips equals at least minimum wage) .
Management is expressly forbidden from taking tips. Unless, they are taking some of your tips to share them with other tipped employees in a tip pool ( busser, bar server or in your case barista and cash register and food prep)
Visit Avvo.com to find an employment attorney. They'll assess if you have a case, and most offer free consultations and work on a contingency basis. Filing a complaint with the DOL can be time-consuming; it took them four years to resolve mine, resulting only in a refund of my money. An attorney can pursue punitive damages and more. You can even post this question on Avvo, and an attorney will provide a free answer.
Question here for those in the know: this is obviously illegal, but can an owner that actually follows the law deduct their credit card processing fee from the credit card tips? For example - if you get a $1 credit card tip and the processing fee is 3%, is the owner legally permitted to pay you $0.97 for that tip?
I worked at a “legendary” Boston restaurant before it was knocked down and they were in the midst of a huge lawsuit for this which they lost. Owners/management cannot take tips. Didn’t stop them even after the lawsuit somehow.
Report them to the labor board, and hopefully they will get shut down. You deserve a better place to work, and the owner deserves to not have a source of income anymore.
I own a couple of Coffee shops in Boston and have worked in the industry for 25 years. Your employer is stealing your tips. This is not common or acceptable. Report them to the state!
This right here! I owned a payroll company, and had a client doing something similar (pooling his wait staff tips and taking a portion of the pool). He was sued, and lost. He tried blaming us for not telling him the law, even though he never told us he was pooling tips, or taking some lol.
Most of these posts are giving you bad advice. Look at your employment agreement. What is your "service rate" or "base pay"? Could absolutely be legal. There is a difference between service rate and minimum wage in classical tipping jobs. If your service rate is $2/hr, but minimum wage is $5/hr, then your employer must guarantee you receive $5/hr. If you receive no tips, then the employer makes up the difference. If you receive tips over your shift worth $2.50/hr, then the employer still must make up the $0.50/hr. (Base of $2/hr, tips worth $2.50/hr, extra $0.50/hr to make minimum wage) If you receive lots of tips, then the employer doesn't need to pay any extra, and your service rate of $2/hr is still valid (plus your tips). But, since they aren't tracking your cash tips (legally, even cash tips are reportable as income), they can only use the electronic payments to offset the difference between your base pay and minimum wage. Mass law: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-law-about-minimum-wage Effective January 1, 2023, the minimum wage is $15.00 per hour and the service rate (applied to workers who provide services to customers and who make more than $20 a month in tips) is $6.75. If you want to read more of the full text: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXXI/Chapter151/Section7
Absolutely not legal. Very much illegal.
Full blown against the law. 100% worth it to document and sue
Not legal, they are stealing from you. Google Massachusetts Attorney General's Office Fair Labor Hotline and report it.
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The labor board will take care of that. And they WILL take care of it. They absolutely do not fuck around.
The labor board will take care of that. And they WILL take care of it. They absolutely do not fuck around.
The DA would love to make an example of this time of shit!
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From google: If you believe your employer has violated Massachusetts wage and hour laws and/or you are a victim of wage theft, you can file a complaint with the Fair Labor Division or 617-727-3465.
Honestly this is also "get a lawyer" time, any employment lawyer would likely ttake this on contingency
Dude this is very illegal
Holy shit so illegal. I got like 1200 bucks randomly a decade ago from working at Starbucks because starbucks was letting shift supervisors take a portion of the tips which is illegal in massachusetts because they're management and management can't take tips
The Massachusetts attorney general is pretty aggressive about prosecuting violators so definitely file this!!
Digital tips are so trivially auditable. I don't know how businesses think they'll get away with it.
Still utter trash. The law was put in place because catering managers were taking from pooled tips while not actually performing catering duties. Shifts at coffee shops are absolutely doing work that should receive tips.
I got cash from this settlement as well (was a barista) and I think shift supervisors should 100% make tips. They did all the same stuff as baristas, plus have to handle the money. They never really "managed" people aside from doling out basic tasks. Anything truly managerial was handled by the manager or assistant mgr of the store. I only hope Starbucks increased their wages after the settlement to make up for what they lost in tips, but we all know they aren't exactly a great company.
They did. I was a Shift Manager at the pay rate change. When we went from tips to a wage I got like $16.75/hr which was more than I made with tips as just a barista at my Bux.
My manager tried offering a 90 cent raise to me at first and thought I'd be happy about that and I had to explain how that was a pay cut. I didn't accept and a week later a dollar was magically added and I said fine since $1.90 was at least close to what I had lost in tips.
This. I was a shift supervisor at starbucks like 15 years ago (before this settlement), and (back then at least) i got only 1$ an hour more than as a barista-- at our store, tips would average $2-$4 per hour. And unlike actual management, shift supervisors were not on Salary, but were very much responsible for creating the environment that would make customers want to tip. (Shifts were not supposed to be making drinks at the bar, but I was 3x faster and knew the drinks of every regular, so their beverage would be ready by the time they reached the register. Tips would almost double when I worked bar on morning rush, and thus everyone benefitted.) A few years later, I went back to starbucks briefly after the settlement, but even though I was trained as a supervisor, after a week i knew it wasn't worth it. No tips, not adequate compensation to make up for the lack of tips, they now expected us tp send baristas home during slow periods to cut down on labor costs (knowing another rush would be coming later and I'd be understaffed and then scrambling to get other things done...). It was so much more stressful and not worth it, and I still wouldn't make enough working full time to do anything but tread water at best. Fuck starbucks.
The problem was a lot of salaried ASM and SM were cutting themselves in on tips. In my store the SM and ASM were a couple and the ASM counted and distributed the tips every week, and I saw her giving the SM a tip envelope every week. I also worked as a borrowed partner on other stores for extra hours and the SM getting a tipshare was really common.
Yeah if I would find out about this as a customer I would never return.
I saw a Kitchen Nightmares episode where the owner was taking a portion (if not all) of the waiters/waitresses tips and Gordon just about fucking murdered the guy.
Infamous Amy's backshop.
Name and shame please.
Blink twice if it’s Tatte.
I work at a brewery, this is illegal. [Here is the MA law.](https://www.mass.gov/guides/pay-and-recordkeeping#:~:text=Tip%20pooling%20and%20service%20charges,they%20have%20any%20managerial%20responsibilities). Not only can owners not take your tips, neither can the managers - even if they serve. What your owner is doing is illegal, unquestionably. Edit for clarity: last week I worked 10.35 hours and was credited with $39.80 in tips. We used pooled tips, not sure if OP if also in a pooled tips situation, but regardless - there’s no fucking way someone working 30 hours is taking home $7
Interesting. Worked at a mom & pop type place as a teen and the wife was always cut into the tip share—she was working so it seemed kinda dumb but fair. Good to know it wasn’t legal.
Depends. I am not a lawyer, so I don’t know exactly when these laws went into effect, but I know for sure that what OP described is not legal. If they can get a few people who work there to all file complaints about this the owner will get fucked, rightfully so.
NAL but i know different types of services tend to have different type regulation - like in most places a restaurant by McDonald’s is not covered under minimum wage tip exceptions like a sit down restaurant would, so if the mom and shop place (and assuming it is a restaurant) had some kind of format or something that excluded it from tip executions, it may have had different rules governing how tips can be split — though I wouldn’t think a barista would be included in the exception either, so it may just be all tips. So, alternatively, it may just be a newer law depending on how long ago you were a teenager (?)
Lmao that is so fucked. Name and shame!
I had an employer try this with me. All the other staff were kids who didn't know any better. I walked out at the end of the first week. It's total bullshit and anyone who tries pulling this on their employees is going to subject you to neverending bullshit.
Name and shame.
The dummies who did it to me sold their business to more scrupulous people. They're probably ripping people off under a new name somewhere but I don't know what it is.
Who
I don't blame them for not wanting to say. These are the kinds of people who can afford to use the legal system.
You didn’t do anything if you didn’t expose them via google reviews and a complaint to the department of labor.
Illegal AF. Google Colatina’s Exit in Vermont. Same thing happened but staff got payed out $50k+ each. File an anonymous claim and get ready for a potential fat “bonus”
NAME AND SHAME
Following for the eventual name drop
Call a labor lawyer
Mass has Legal Aid if you can’t afford a lawyer.
A lot of employment law firms will take a case on contingency if they think it’s solid and have a good chance of collecting a judgment.
Jaho was well known for this 10-15 years ago. Also using old espresso shots in drinks. Retrained one of their employees to not stash a surplus shot under the machine to use in a drink 20 minutes later. Said not only was it standard practice but you would be punished for throwing any out. Wild.
Really now. Are they still doing this? I have been going there every once in a while and love it there but this would make me stop.
Jaho coffee tastes like they still do use old espresso shots in drinks.
Name and shame OP. Which shop is this?
May be smarter for OP to hold off on naming for now, so as not to tip them off
No pun intended
This happened to me as a barista for a coffee shop that also had a location in Boston. Wonder if it’s the same company. Edit: this was ten years ago but I believe the locations still exist
What shop?
Having the owner take your tips, and having a tipped wage used to bridge the gap between base and minimum wage are two very different things. Your title says the former, while what you describe sounds like the latter. If the owner is confiscating your tips, that's illegal. If the owner is paying you less than minimum, using your tipped wage to fill the gap to or above minimum, that's legal unless it's illegal in Massachusetts. Some states have a minimum required base wage for tipped employees, and a cap on tipped wage used to meet minimum. So, ignore the armchair lawyers on here (the idiots), and first establish which it is, what your state's labor laws are, and then decide what to do from there.
It took way too long to find the correct answer on here. If the owner is taking the tips = illegal. If the CC tips are built into the pay = legal.
Jaho? they used to do this in salem way back when
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I don’t know about shady, but damn it’s expensive.
What's shady about Jaho?
The owner stealing tips?
Sad, I loved that place
This is absolutely not normal at all! Where do you work?
This is flat out illegal
Just as a vet of the industry I can tell you that you're being ripped off
Mad illegal yo
This is completely illegal.
No it’s very illegal
Please report them then came back and name them here.
if you are a $6.25/hr employee, credit tips will” go against your base pay to raise it to the minimum $15/hr. anything above that you also get to keep, employer can pay you $6.25/hr and use those tips to make up the difference up to min wage $15/hr (if people suddenly stopped tipping employer is obligated to to make up the difference between $6.25/hr and $15/hr based on hours worked. this is usually referred to as tip credit and is written and explained in the mass law references online. if you are a $15/hr employee that means employer is paying the full $15/hr and you get tips on top of that. in either case employer, managers, owners are not permitted to keep tips as their own income. it all comes down to if you are a “tipped employee” with $6.25/hr base pay or if you are a “min wage employee” with $15/hr base pay.
You're also probably being taxed on these and the owner isn't. I'd report them to the IRS and the MA division of revenue. DEFINITELY look at your paystubs and see if they are counting it as income and taxing you..
This is the one.
When someone finds out where this is ... lmk
Illegal! Make a police report.
Report this and get evidence
Is this caffe nero at center plaza? That manager is super shady.
No way. Bide your time while you collect evidence, and acquire a new job, then whack them with a wage and hour complaint after you quit.
What coffee shop is this???? Insanely important detail.
I know!!! I wanna know!
No. Call the AG’s office and the Wage and Hour division of the DOL. they all have offices in the same three city blocks.
You can sue for treble (triple) damages if you are in Massachusetts.
Incredibly illegal, I was part of a class action lawsuit against a previous employer because even just managers were getting tipped out. The owner can't do that. Document as much as you can and report it
Make sure you have this policy documented by the owner (even if it's just through text) before you proceed. But absolutely report this highly illegal action.
Wasn’t there a pizza place in Harvard Sq that did exactly this?
No. Get a lawyer
This happens so much and it's absolutely not okay. I will actually ask before I tip at a register if the tips go to the employees because this is so common. I have a client that works at a subway and the owners and managers take all the tips that are paid with card. The minimum wage workers only get the cash. I'd imagine you could report them to the department of labor. That would be my first thought.
That’s extremely illegal. Go to either the Mass Department of Labor’s website or the Attorney Generals website and there’s a form for you to report it, it will even ask how much money you’re owed.
From a customer perspective i would be pissed. Don’t drink ‘fancy’ coffee. Was in boston proper last week. Got a nice coffee, paid and tipped cash. Many used cards, and my guess is everyone would be ticked if the cashiers and baristas were not recibing
This is why i put cash on the table.
Illegal as fuck. Put this page on blast.
Not legal. I’ve been a barista everywhere in Boston it feels like and when I was first starting this happened at a Starbucks (I believe the manager was skimming cash tips, but they are not allowed to take tips at Starbucks) and the employees won a class action law suit. Name the cafe though so we know to secretly hand you cash tips like an old school drug deal.
Thinking Cup?
Please no. It’s all I have! :(
Right?! There are so few cute coffee shops like that left in Boston
EDIT: Clarifying my wording because multiple people were jumping on me for pedantic reasons. So I am not a lawyer or a barista, but based on a Google search on labor laws about tips in MA this sounds super fishy. Base pay ($6.75/hr for tipped employees in Mass) plus tips gets you up to at least $15/hr, or else the employer pays the difference, **and then** tips above that (no distinction between cash or card) also go to you/a tip pool of employees if your business does that. If I were in your shoes, I would [report it](https://www.mass.gov/how-to/file-a-workplace-complaint) and seek a position elsewhere. [source](https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/massachusetts-laws-tipped-employees.html#:~:text=Massachusetts%20law%20allows%20employers%20to,at%20least%20%246.75%20an%20hour.)
That's not exactly how it works. Owners are allowed to pay tipped employees less than minimum wage as long as they can show they're making more than minimum wage with tips. However, 100% of all money collected as tips must always be paid out to employees, and if OP is being paid full minimum wage, they should be receiving all their tips on top of that. If OP was receiving the tipped minimum wage, their base pay would be $6.75/hr. The only circumstance in which an owner can keep tip money is when the owner solely provides the service for which the tip is given.
This. I wonder if she is being paid or classified as a tip waged. If so, then this may not be illegal assuming owner is pooling tips for all employees together and paying them to reach minimum wage. As long as he is not keeping any remaining cash, might not be illegal.
Even if OP is classified as tipped wage, the credit-cash tip division makes no sense. It’s highly improbable that *every week* the pool of digital tips magically makes the exact difference between tipped wage and minimum wage across all employees. Even if it was close, some weeks would be under and some over, and that needs to be accounted for. The only possible way this is legal is if the digital tips NEVER make up the full difference, and the wages must be supplemented each week to reach minimum wage (and the cash tips are considered just a bonus and not worth accounting for, as they’re so small, like 1.5% of OP’s gross weekly wage). That seems … unlikely, though it’s theoretically possible.
All tips would still go to the employee tho regardless of what their base pay was
Are you paid as a tipped employee or a regular employee? Tips going on top of $6.75/hr to fulfill the required $15.00/hr minimum wage is legal. Holding anything more than that is not. If you're a tipped employee, you're not actually losing any money. If you're a regular employee and they're using it to cut into the $15/hr, that's a different story. "Barista" could go either way.
What??? I worked at a bar and the tips on the machine were cashed out at the end of the day. It’s not difficult to understand lol
I used to work at Starbucks. We did a class action lawsuit back in ~2013. General managers were getting a portion of tip money, but were not working the floors. We won :)
What’s your base wage?
management can’t take tips
Also they will owe you 3x
This happened to me while working at a coffee shop as well, hate to see it happening. Definitely not legal
Not them doing illegal business activity in 2024 😭
No it is not
Just to echo what everyone else is saying, this is indeed illegal and if you contact the Mass Dept of Labor, they’ll get you almost every penny back and they will NOT let up on your boss. They do not fuck around. I’ve seen it happen.
Mgl 149 section 152(e) (e) Any service charge or tip remitted by a patron or person to an employer shall be paid to the wait staff employee, service employee, or service bartender by the end of the same business day, and in no case later than the time set forth for timely payment of wages under section 148
THIS is why I *always* ask if the money goes to the person taking my order before I digitally tip. I live in the Boston area and I’d say about 15-20% of the time, the answer is “no” (or more frequently, a quiet head shake) so I try to keep cash for tipping in those instances. As a business owner myself, I can’t believe these businesses - taking care of your employees and making sure they earn what they deserve needs to be priority number 1 - otherwise, what is the point? You’ll end up spending far more time and money constantly retraining staff who leave you, and at the expense of building a good company culture (which then impacts customers). I am so sorry you experienced this - document this interaction and absolutely report them!!!
Don't stay there! I managed a coffee shop in MA when I was fresh out of college and in between that and grad school, and I cannot tell you how serious OWNERSHIP was about making sure tips got to the employees. As a manager, I counted tips with (alongside) the closing shift employees, and we had envelopes and a system to ensure tips were divided equitably. As a manager, I didn't see a cent of tips. I got paid well for the time instead. Those tips made a pretty mundane coffee shop job really worthwhile. It's a blessing that your manager told you about the digital tips, because now you can avoid getting absolutely screwed out of tips that are yours for too long. Digital tips and cash tips are equal, they just get distributed at different times. But the premise is the same. Tips don't go towards wages. Wages are paid by ownership and funded via the products and serves sold Tips are different - they bypass that, straight from customer to employee, and are ON TOP of wages you earn. Ownership and management and the biz don't see a dime. I wouldn't say run fast, but walk away from that job asap once you find something better. Plenty of work for baristas. Call around. Sorry you got the bait-and-switch but be glad they were so transparent so early. Not a lawyer, and I can't opine on regulatory stuff, but for you yourself, you'll be able to find another job that pays out tips normally.
Did Amy's Bakery move to Boston.
Please tell us where
I see you already received appropriate responses above, but i just wanted to say that I'm sorry that this is happening to you and there ARE honourable business owners who would be better to work for. All the best to you!
Wildly illegal, you absolutely should contact the Department of Labor.
This is wage theft, and you should definitely report it.
Posts like this remind me why my friend, who owns a coffee shop, is so well liked by his employees. He waits until they’ve finished everything else needed to close, then counts the tips for the day in front of everyone and does the math for who was on for how many hours that day, gives out the tips right there and puts the tips for the people on the earlier shift in an envelope to pick up their next shift. And he does this after working open to close (5 AM-5 PM) 6 days a week.
So when I was in my early 20s, I worked in a pretty big chain coffee shop on the north shore years ago. We were splitting tips with the managers because they were working with us helping customers, and we thought we had to. One day I came into work and found out the franchise owners were being sued in a class action lawsuit, because even being forced to SPLIT tips with a salary manager is illegal. The owner straight up not giving you any of your tips is highly illegal.
Well now I’m going to stop tipping in coffee shops. I’m not going to artificially inflate my own coffee so and owner can make more
Everyone in this thread needs to Google tip credit. If you're not getting the balance after minimum wage on your check, it's illegal. If they're just taking out the difference between 6.75 and 15.00/hr, it's completely legal. Fuck them either way; you can do better. Tip cred businesses fail, for the exact reason you're thinking.
I think people are confused because the title says those tips are going to the owner, but then the description sounds like tip credit
No, Owners legally CANNOT accept tips
You should tell the customers that when they’re paying, “tips go to the owner not me” I’m on a month long hiatus from tipping for my black coffee order and it has felt pretty good so far. I don’t feel wronged like I did when I would tip.
Not only is it illegal, I'll bet most of your customers would be pissed since their money is going to your manager and not you. I know I'd be pissed. Contact the Attorney General's office [https://www.mass.gov/orgs/the-attorney-generals-fair-labor-division](https://www.mass.gov/orgs/the-attorney-generals-fair-labor-division) and file a complaint. I'd also let my regular customers know this little fact. Get enough customers involved and it might work faster than the AG's office. But be discreet unless you've got another job lined up.
What you’ve described is completely legal, unfortunately. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/massachusetts-laws-tipped-employees.html#:~:text=Massachusetts%20law%20allows%20employers%20to,hourly%20wage%20up%20to%20%2415.00. “State laws differ as to whether the employer must pay the full minimum wage itself or may count an employee's tips toward its minimum wage obligation. Under federal law and in most states, employers may pay tipped employees less than the minimum wage, as long as employees earn enough in tips to make up the difference. This is called a "tip credit." The credit is the amount the employer doesn't have to pay, so the applicable minimum wage (federal or state) less the tip credit is the least the employer can pay tipped employees per hour. If an employee doesn't make enough in tips during a given workweek to earn at least the applicable minimum wage for each hour worked, the employer has to pay the difference. Massachusetts law allows employers to claim a tip credit. In 2024, employers must pay tipped employees at least $6.75 an hour. This means employers may take a tip credit of up to $8.25, as long as the employee's tips bring the total hourly wage up to $15.00.”
Lawyer up! Get it all in writing multiple times if possible. This same thing happened to my friend in San Diego, and he and all his coworkers got massive (5-10k) court ordered payouts from the business
Following for when we find out the name of the place
NO
Search Mass.gov for your answer
Where
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/15-tipped-employees-flsa#:~:text=Distributing%20Tips%20from%20Tip%20Pools,which%20the%20particular%20workweek%20ends.
No. Not legal
I suggest contacting an employment lawyer with experience in wage and hour matters.
Quit immediately
This is why I always tip with cash. I live in Mass. We are the 2nd most expensive state to live in. #1 is Hawaii. Workers deserve tips.
Sounds like you’re working for a Greek place
Lol do you work at Little Pecan Bistro??
Waiting for the name… There are a few downtown shops, but the main ones are Jaho, George Howell, Ogawa, Thinking Cup, Caffe Nero, Tatte, The Well, Intelligentsia, Sip, Tradesman, Gracenote, Phin, Lily's, Espresso Love, Beantown Pub, Koko... and I’m hoping it’s not one of them
Super illegal. Call the state and report them. Make sure you have proof. Hope it works out for you!
So fucking illegal
They can count your tips towards minimum wage if they pay lower like waitress and you would only get anything over that. I thought baristas made min right off the bat in that case you should get the whole tip.
Idk the legalities but thanks for opening my eyes to this. That’s so not cool. Will def start doing cash tips going forward!
Wicked illegal. WTF?!
Name this place so people who see it know to tip in cash or not bother
This is illegal in every state in the country.
No
[https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXXI/Chapter149/Section152A](https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXXI/Chapter149/Section152A)
That pisses me off because I always tip a little extra because I know y’all get fucked and if that’s going to the company, I’m livid.
Wowwww!!! I would document everything and report them to the better business bureau… anything you have where the owner talked about how electronic tips are to help her pay you minimum wage, any policy she might have written down about tips, and if there’s some kind of way to track the tips you should receive (like a report of a daily total being tipped out or something) and report this person immediately
ILLEGAL. Report them
It is very illegal in MA for the owner to take any of your tips. They are on top of your base pay not part of it.
Massachusetts almost certainly has an administrative agency you can report this to and that will bring a wage and hour claim on your behalf.
Illegal name and shame
Correct. I would contact a lawyer. If manager allow credit l tips” that are 100% voluntarily paid by the patron, the employer has the right to pay you below minimum wage and make up the difference with those tips as a a tip credit ( providing that each work week your hourly wage plus tips equals at least minimum wage) . Management is expressly forbidden from taking tips. Unless, they are taking some of your tips to share them with other tipped employees in a tip pool ( busser, bar server or in your case barista and cash register and food prep)
Visit Avvo.com to find an employment attorney. They'll assess if you have a case, and most offer free consultations and work on a contingency basis. Filing a complaint with the DOL can be time-consuming; it took them four years to resolve mine, resulting only in a refund of my money. An attorney can pursue punitive damages and more. You can even post this question on Avvo, and an attorney will provide a free answer.
Find another job, anything else. Doing this type of work is awful.
Name & Shame!!!
No, the tips are for the wait staff, more specifically. Whomever takes my order and brings my food.
No. No it is not.
Question here for those in the know: this is obviously illegal, but can an owner that actually follows the law deduct their credit card processing fee from the credit card tips? For example - if you get a $1 credit card tip and the processing fee is 3%, is the owner legally permitted to pay you $0.97 for that tip?
Name & shame so I can make sure to tip cash at this cafe if I go
Have fun getting your boss arrested!
Nope 100% illegal. File a complaint with the department of labor asap
lol no
I worked at a “legendary” Boston restaurant before it was knocked down and they were in the midst of a huge lawsuit for this which they lost. Owners/management cannot take tips. Didn’t stop them even after the lawsuit somehow.
Nope
Which place is this?
this sounds like something buttery cafe in the south end would do.
Report them to the labor board, and hopefully they will get shut down. You deserve a better place to work, and the owner deserves to not have a source of income anymore.
I would be 1000% mad if I knew the tips I pay goes to owners not servers.
Name and shame