Taz_az
09-24-2007, 04:00 AM
I was hired May 2007 by a privately owned rest. to work as a bartender at their soon to open new location for $6.75 hr.+ tips. (Stated in New Hire Packet) Worked for that wage, one day a week at the existing location and received a regular paycheck. The new location opened the beginning of Sept. worked 60+ hours and received a check paying me $4 hr. and under "Other Comp" "Cash Tips" they have $175.33. There is no record of that amount of cash tips.
Q.#1) Is that legal to lower my pay like that without notice?
Q.#2) How would they come up with that amount in "Cash Tips" when I did
not claim close to that amount? (It looks to me like they took the
$2.75 hr. that they did not pay me and put it as "Cash Tips")
Pattymd
09-24-2007, 05:45 AM
1. Not in Arizona, no.
2. They can only use as a tip credit that amount which you actually claimed as tips. Was the same amount shown as "cash tips" also deducted from your net, or only the amount you actually claimed?
http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/whdfs15.htm
You can file a claim for the underpaid wages for the time you worked at the lower rate, but before you were notified about it.
Taz_az
09-24-2007, 11:34 AM
1) Nothing was deducted from my check...Not even the tips that I did claim on the computer when clocking out... They just have my pay rate as $4 hr. $6 hr for O.T... then down below for what reason I don't know it says Other Comp. Cash tips... That amount was not added nor subtracted from my total earnings...
2) So, they can lower my wage with proper notice? What is considered proper notice?
Thank You for your time and quick response
Arizona is not my state, but it is likely that any notice is legally "proper". The key is not form of the notice, but avoiding retroactive changes. States that do have formal rules basically just want the employee to know their rates of pay prior to the work being done. Let's say that you were someone making $5K/day. You need to be told that it is being changed to $50/day prior to you doing the work so you can (if you want) use your Employment-At-Will privledges to withhold your services if you do not like the proposed compensation terms. However, absent a CBA or contract, the employer is generally free to change conditions of employment (not just wages) on a go-forward basis. And the employee is free to withhold their services.
