Share my tips with management? I don't think so!

Pizza Shop Talk Delivery Driver Discussion
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Share my tips with management? I don’t think so!

De Niro’s restaurants to pay $2.5 million in tip case

By Christine Kearney Christine Kearney – Fri Jan 30, 7:01 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Actor Robert De Niro’s Nobu restaurant chain will settle a lawsuit over tips with waiters and staff at three of his New York establishments for $2.5 million, according to court papers filed on Friday.

The settlement comes after two waiters sued in 2007 on behalf of hundreds of workers at three of the exclusive Japanese restaurants. They said they were forced to share tips with management and the chain failed to pay overtime.

Nobu, which De Niro partly owns with chef Nobu Matsuhisa and others, opened in New York’s Tribeca area in 1994. It has since expanded to 16 places around the globe.

The settlement covers Nobu, Nobu 57 and Nobu Next Door, all in New York. Current employees and ex-employees who worked there between August 2001 and August 2008 will receive an average of $3,300 each, court papers said.

De Niro’s spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Carolyn Richmond, a lawyer for Nobu, said Nobu has a reputation for treating employees well and was looking forward to putting the litigation behind it.

“These are very uncertain economic times and if this class action lawsuit trend continues over procedural nuances concerning the definition of tip pools, New York City will suffer the needless loss of thousands of jobs and small businesses,” she said.

Several lawsuits in the past two years have accused New York restaurants, including some owned by celebrities, of wage violations and unfair labor practices.

Among those named in suits were U.S. pop star Justin Timberlake’s Southern Hospitality BBQ restaurant, Jay Z’s 40/40 Club and Jean Georges owned by French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

“Top Chef” TV show judge Tom Colicchio’s Craftbar in New York was sued in December.

Last year Vongerichten agreed to pay $1.75 million after eight waiters filed suit on behalf of all staff at Jean Georges and four of his other New York restaurants.

A hearing to approve the Nobu settlement is set for February 6.

(Editing by Michelle Nichols and Xavier Briand)

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I think the above post answers this question 2.5 million times.

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Sorry I thought mileage paid for the running expense of your vehicle (inc depreciation) yet now its tips? - which is it - you really do need to make your mind up.

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^ Would you like first crack at him Gregster? I’ve got something up my sleeve that wont’ leave much left, so get any licks in you may desire before I unload on this one.

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What I choose to do with the fruits of my labor are entirely up to me after I earn them. Just as the owner of a business my reinvest profits or spend them on a Bahamas vacation, I can do the same with my money. The problem I have is many owners seem to think my profits in tips some how actually belong to them, and they can’t have the tips themselves, they should at least be able defray their business costs with my money.

Unfortunately the law does allow a portion of a tipped persons tip income to be used to defray the businesses wage costs in the form of ‘tip-credit’. This has given many business the impression that all tips are under their control, and that since they can’t have them directly, they should at least be allowed to force the employee into a situation where they have no choice but to spend those tips to defray the businesses expenses. Till shortage? Employee pays. Customer walks out on tab? Employee pays. Uniform needed? Employee pays. Mileage doesn’t cover costs? Employee pays.

The fact that I’m even having this discussion with some of you supports my argument. In some way, shape or from, you seem to have a problem with paying people a free and clear wage, and fully reimbursing them for using their car to support the business. My wages and my tips are my money. I’d prefer you kept your hands off of it. The article above gives 2.5 million reasons why.

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Doesn’t it boil down to if you don’t like being underpaid, don’t deliver pizzas? I know there are tons of unemployed people that would kill to make 50-150 bucks cash a night that would never think twice to b*tch about the depreciation of the car they use.

Majority of the time, the drivers don’t use their tips to help pay for “mileage”, upkeep/maintenance, or depreciation on their car. I understand that is none of the owners business what you do with the money, but if you DON’T use the reimbursements for those reasons, then it’s the drivers that are the ones being shady. Even if we paid full reimbursement that you claim we need to pay, most likely its going towards other bills or booze, or both.

I don’t have delivery drivers, so don’t ever accuse me of underpaying any of my staff. I’m just playing devils advocate.

And your first post is irrelevant b/c waitresses don’t use cars to deliver food to their patrons… But just wondering, should they get reimbursed for the foot mileage and depreciation of their legs?

I just thought of something too… Why do strippers have to share their tips with the establishment they work for???

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What happned to “Saveyourtips.com”?..

Last I checked yall were at 8 members?..Out of those 8 members how many are waiters & or waitresses?.. :? …

All 8 probably posted here as disgruntle drivers! :lol: …

Its got a nice ring, sound to it though…Dman says…“Save your tips.com”… I mean “keepyourtips.com”:P.

:lol:

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No obviously didn’t read my post and yet again got on the wrong band wagon.

I didn’t comment about ownership of tips - I agree that they belong to the person they are given to and no one else.
I didn’t comment about using tips to compensate drivers.
I didn’t comment about what you did with you tips - thats totally up to you
I didn’t comment about control of the tips.
I didn’t comment about underpayment of MW
I didn’t comment about underpayment of business expenses.
I didn’t comment about a business taking any part of the tips.
indeed I didn’t comment about your original posted item - If a business took tips and underpaid overtime then they deserve to be caught.

Let me make this VERY clear as I’ve said this so many times before but you obviously don’t understand: I do not believe that underpayment of any employee is appropriate and anyone who pays below MW should be dealt with appropriately by the authorities. Employee’s should be paid at the correct/appropriate rate.

You said that ‘Tips are part of the profits of a delivery drivers profession. Those profits help pay for the capital expenditure of buying a car that is used to generate those profits.’

and I commented ‘Sorry I thought mileage paid for the running expense of your vehicle (inc depreciation) yet now its tips? - which is it - you really do need to make your mind up.’

You have spent weeks telling us that Mileage is required to cover the costs of running the car and Tips have nothing to do with it mileage or remunderation yet here you clear state that tips help pay? Which is it?

DOX - won’t leave much left?? Can’t wait for this one.

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^^^ thats my post - sorry didn’t realise this forum lets you post without logging in.

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Most of us happen to like what we do, that doesn’t mean that we should allow ourselves to get shafted. Like I asked before, would you rent your car to someone at a loss? I didn’t think so.

We aren’t supposed to use our tips to pay for car maintenance, that’s what the reimbursement is supposed to pay for. How an individual driver chooses to allocate his money isn’t any of your business, regardless of what the money goes to you are required to compensate someone who provides a value to your business at cost to themselves, period. If a driver chooses to not maintain his vehicle and simply junk it and buy a different one when it breaks, that’s their choice, if the car is old enough it might even be more cost effective than regular maintenance. There is nothing that says “thou shalt set aside reimbursement money for car maintenance”, though a smart driver will anyways because you don’t get paid not to drive. I won’t dignify the crack about what drivers spend their money on by responding, but it does confirm my opinions about how you view drivers.

Regardless of whether you actually employ drivers, someone who does and follows your advice would be underpaying, it’s a small point. Tip law is tip law, if waiters are suing and winning behind these sorts of violations, you can be that drivers can too. We’ve got a much better case, and with the economic and political situation we’ve probably got public opinion too.

Strippers should not be sharing tips with management, if they are they are being ripped off and can sue over it. Strippers are also usually independent contractors working under different rules, typically they have to pay to work up front and don’t earn any wage, it’s sort of strange but barbers work under the same system.

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But again, we’re not the ones shafting you… YOU’RE employer is…

It impossible to win with you guys. What are you actually trying to accomplish?

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What people like this should do…First off, I can’t understand how anyone can work for an employer they have such contempt for…If anything constructive were to come out of this, is the totally dissatisfying pay he is getting lead him strait for the exit doors at PJ’s…

How would yall handle keeping an employee on payroll that has such great contempt for you as an employer?..Ite beyond me how this guy could even show up to work, let alone accept a paycheck from his so despised employer…

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I think this is what most of us have a problem undertsanding her. As Dox sahys Why would people like Gregster ‘suffer’ below MW and ‘rent his car to someone at a loss’ and keep on doing it - its not for the love of the job as these guys love to pop at the BIG 3.

So, then Dox whats up your sleeve?

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Most drivers that are being exploited simply don’t know any better, for many it’s their first job, or they don’t understand what costs they are actually bearing. Gregster is sort of a special case, he’s aware of the abuses and has chosen to try to fix the system from within rather than simply throwing his hands up in disgust and walking away. Desperate people will do desperate things, including looking the other way when their employer violates the law, a situation that I’m afraid is only going to get more common as the recession ramps up. I personally refuse to work for the Big 3 or their imitators, a very brief stint at Papa John’s cured me of any desire to work for any of them again, and I haven’t. I did stick it out in a very abusive (mentally abusive) shop for over 3 years because I was making money(massively understaffed), but if I had to do it again I would have quit much sooner and gone to someplace that appreciated me, I now know how to find good delivery work in Seattle and have the resume to get in at any place I want. Others aren’t so lucky or experienced, and I just so happen to be the kind of guy that doesn’t let something that is wrong happen just because it doesn’t directly effect me, hence my passion for this issue.

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Dox & Gregster. You guys are never going to amount to anything! You must be real winners working at PJ’s at your age. Not only are you only delivery drivers, you spend your free time complaining about it. Dox you don’t even deliver pizza anymore, Why are you wasting your time b*tching about being a driver. Your lives must be just great! I could say more, but I need to count all my money that I have made by not paying my driver reimbursement.

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Why an anonymous personal attack by name? How can you know with certainty what the future holds for us?

At what age do people become ‘losers’ when still working in the pizza biz?

“Only” delivery drivers? Are we less human or in less honorable jobs than others? What do you have against delivery drivers?

Must one still work in the profession to be able to speak knowledgeably about it?

That seems rife with sarcasm. Are you saying that delivery drivers can’t or shouldn’t enjoy ‘great’ lives?

Are you saying that you are an owner or manager that knowing does not reimburse drivers for mileage, then laughs happily all the way to the bank? I thought that wasn’t condoned by most on this board. Would you like to elaborate?

Anyways, thanks for sharing your anonymous opinions with us. If you have any constructive criticism on the topic at hand instead of personal attacks, I’d be happy to discuss them with you. You need not reveal your identity to enjoy a healthy debate, since your post has already revealed your character.

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Hmm, our new ITG seems to have taken notice of my suggestion that people on this board don’t know what real trolling looks like and has decided to enlighten them… I’d say the punctuation and spelling rule out dman or any of our usual suspects, though the phrasing does remind me of someone else here that likes to make personal attacks. It would seem that our meticulous argumentation style has gotten someone a bit frustrated, yet another endorsement of our efforts.

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so come on then what is it up your sleeve that ‘won’t leave much left’

I’m intrigued?

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I thought this was a delivery driver forum? I believe that the original post has nothing to do with the delivery driver aspect of the pizza business.

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Basically he is trying to show that tips belong soley to the tipee & can’t be split with management nor used to off set sub wages, or car expenses…Like we didn’t know this already… :roll: …God knows he forces it down our throats on a daily basis… :o

Whadda they owe you now in unpaid mileage there greger chap?..You say around 7K a year there?..

Of course greggers usues the .55 IRS mileage rate to figure he is owed 7k in unpaid mileage…Even though it probably doesn’t cost him .55 a mile to operate his car…Ain’t that something there?.. :? …

I suppose it could be worse for him since they keep someone with such contempt on payroll… If they ever kicked him to the curb then he’d be figuring not only unpaid mileage but also unpaid wages for good…Cheer up greggers, cheer up chap…It could be worse like having no job at all…Do like me instead, & be happy you got a cushy job…