Tipping fees washington state

Employees may voluntarily have a tip-sharing agreement. But, an employer is not required to assist in administering voluntary tip-sharing agreements. Note: Employers, supervisors, or managers may accept tips only for services they directly provide. A service charge is a mandatory fee an employer may charge for services that an employee provides. To customers, service charges may appear to replace a tip. Because of this, state law requires clear disclosure of who receives the service charge.

Service charges also include mandatory gratuities and delivery charges. In fact, some employees earn more in tips from satisfied customers than in straight wages paid by their employers. When you receive tips as part of your compensation, your legal rights under wage and hour laws become a bit more complicated.

The rules about what counts as a tip, how much your employer must pay you, and whether you have to contribute to a tip pool among other things all depend on the laws of your state.

Although federal law also covers these issues, employers must follow whichever law—federal, state, or even local—is the most generous to employees. Here's what you need to know about federal and Washington legal protections for employees who receive tips. You can find out more about Washington minimum wage, tip rules, overtime standards, and other wage and hour issues at the Washington Department of Labor and Industries. The basic rule of tips, under federal law and state law, is that they belong to the employee, not the employer.

Employers may not require employees to hand over their tips unless one of these exceptions applies:. 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. Employers must pay all employees at least the state minimum wage, regardless of how much the employee earns in tips.

Many states, including Washington, allow employers to require tip pooling or "tipping out. Employers must notify employees of the tip pool in advance. In addition, employees can't be required to pay more into the pool than is customary and reasonable, and the employee must be able to keep at least the full minimum wage.

In other words, if the employer takes a tip credit, the employer can count only the tips the employee gets to take home against its minimum wage obligation. Under federal law, if the employer claims a tip credit, then only employees who regularly receive tips can be part of the tip pool.

Employees can't be required to share their tips with employees who don't usually receive their own tips, like dishwashers or cooks, unless the employer doesn't claim a tip credit and pays the employee the minimum wage directly. And tips from a tip pool can't go to the employer, managers, or supervisors. It's not as easy as you might think to figure out exactly how much of what a customer pays is a "tip.

No commercial appliances. Must be recycled at these facilities. Clean wood untreated for recycling — separate materials before arriving at the station Accepted at Bow Lake , Enumclaw , Factoria and Shoreline only.

Unsecured load fee — strictly enforced Visit the Secure Your Load page for more information about how to properly secure your load. The extra handling fee, which is charged in place of the special waste fee, is intended to more accurately reflect the cost of disposing of these materials.

Appliances that contain or contained refrigerants include refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, dehumidifiers, and heat pumps. A tip credit allows an employer to pay a base rate of pay below minimum wage provided tips are sufficient to reach minimum wage. See Cumbie v. Woody Woo, Inc. Be wary relying on these opinions in regards to tip-pooling because this issue appears unsettled. However, in Washington State the tip pool can likely be shared with many other employees unless those employees include managerial staff see above.

Regardless, there are three 3 general criteria for a tip pool:. Like all rules this statement breaks down somewhat depending upon the circumstances and nature of the position in question.

Starbucks Shift-Supervisors allowed to share tips, but Assistant Managers denied ;. However, accountability still falls back to the employee because the employer cannot pay its share of FICA taxes if the employee fails to report tips.