(Minnesota) Supreme Court sides with bar staff forced to pay cash shortages with tips

[question everything]

The rules were clear when Thomas Rupp began bartending at the popular Minneapolis party bar Drink as a college student in 2007. If the cash register was short for any reason — for instance, if a customer walked out on a tab or forgot to sign a credit card receipt — you were responsible.

(snip)

Rupp, 31, and more than 750 Drink and Spin nightclub employees who challenged their companies’ tactics won a major victory Wednesday when the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that they were entitled to damages for being forced to use their tip money to make up cash shortages. Their award could surpass six figures.

(snip)

However, in its unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court said that tips are counted as wages, regardless of whether they fall above or below the minimum wage. “A gratuity is paid to an employee for performing a service for an employer, such as serving food and drinks to the employers’ patrons. Gratuities also fall under the definition of ‘wages’ even though the money is paid by ‘another person,’ ” Chief Justice Lorie Gildea wrote.

(snip)

“There is no dispute in this case that the employees were required to pay the employers back for register shortages, walkouts and unsigned credit-card receipts,” Gildea wrote. “Under the plain language of [the law], these deductions from the employees’ wages were unlawful.”

(snip)

http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/219646251.html

[KT2000]

1. Yeah!

Score one for the people!

[DallasNE]

2. Does This Ruling Also Apply To All Of The Other Companies That Do The Same Thing

Cash registers always seem to come up short from what management calculates should be in the cash drawer. And sometimes the employees don't receive tips from which to cover the shortages so the money is simply deducted from the employees meager paycheck. This rip-off has been around forever and I don't expect this court ruling to end the practice.

[question everything]

3. At least in Minnesota, I don't know about other states

or whether there is a federal law.

But the conclusion should be the same: employees provide services for the employer and they should not be expected to cover a loss.

[DallasNE]

4. This Is Not As Easy As It Might Seem

If employers can't charge for cash register shortages what is to prevent employees from skimming a few dollars every day. On the other hand some of what today passes as cash register shortages is little more than the owners skimming tip money every day. Things need to swing back toward the middle and it is a tough thing to police. We have a court ruling in Minnesota so now we need to see how it is implemented. There will always be an adversarial relationship regarding cash register receipts as there are dishonest employees and dishonest owners and the tilt today is dishonest owners.