Walkouts – Who Is Responsible For Paying The Check?
Walkout, Dine and Dash, Short Changed – they are all the same. Someone sits in your section, has a meal, and leaves without paying the all or part of the check. Yes, this has even happened to me and I had to make up the difference at the end of my shift. Is this legal?
Certainly not. Walkouts are a part of doing business for restaurant owners who can implement polices to help prevent patrons who want a meal but do not want to pay. However, if you have read some of my other blog postings, there are always exceptions when it comes to restaurant law in Florida.
This is why it is illegal:
Most restaurants pay their service staff a reduced hourly wage of $4.23/hr. (Fla. Minimum Wage is $7.25/hr. minus the Federal Tip Credit of $3.02/hr. equals $4.23/hr.) When management requires a server to pay for a walkout out of his/her pocket, the hourly wage is dropped below the minimum allowable by law. The exception occurs when you are paid more than the minimum wage and the walkout deduction would not bring you below $7.25.
Of course it is a server’s job to watch his/her station to make sure people do not forget to pay, however, servers cannot be everywhere at once. This is why it is important that servers working next to each other watch each other’s stations and that management make sure that host/esses help too.
Walkouts are everyone employees responsibility, however, when it comes time to reconcile the POS, it is management’s, not the servers, legal duty to take care of the bill for the walkout.
As always, the legal opinion above does not apply to every single fact scenario dealing with walkouts so please call and ask us any questions you may have about your hospitality job.
Law Office of Lowell J. Kuvin
17 East Flagler Street, Suite 223
Miami Florida, 33131
Tele: 305.358.6800
lowell@kuvinlaw.com
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how about when you work overtime for a long period of time and you do not get paid? the company go out of bussiness but hey still have other bussinesses. Are they still responsible to pay for that overtime? which is more than a year a a half, and around 15 hours a week?
ReplyDeleteRigo,
ReplyDeleteIf the restaurant closes but the corporation is still alive, or, the owner worked at the restaurant, you can still sue them/him for unpaid wages, liquidated damages (equal to the amount of unpaid wages, and attorney fees and costs).
Contact my office to discuss the matter.
what happens if the server has a "a bank" and cash out the customer's checks. At the end of each shift, they pay the restaurant for the sales? I remembered it happened to me one July 4th several years ago and some of my co-workers had to pay also.
ReplyDelete"Paying the restaurant for sales?" Not really sure what you mean by that. Please explain it a bit more.
ReplyDeletethe servers carry a "bank". cash out the customers checks. end of shift, add up all the checks and minus the credit card tips. then you paid the restaurant the total sales you did for that night. save the restaurant from having to hire a cashier.if you lost a check or people skip out on paying, you pay out of your pocket.
ReplyDeleteIt is against the law to require servers to pay for missing checks or walk-outs. It lowers your hourly pay below the minimum wage rate. Say I work 10 hours at $4.23/hr. (42.30) and I then have to pay for a $50 walk-out. I was not paid any hourly wage; in fact, I had to pay the restaurant to work. Walk-outs are the restaurant's responsibility; cost of doing business. They can write you up for it, but they cannot require you to pay the bill.
ReplyDeleteSo tips aren't configured into an employees wage..? You work 10 hours at $4.23, but you also made $100 in tips, my employer stil cannot make me pay the check, correct?
ReplyDeleteYou got it. The law looks at tips as belonging to the server. Your employer would be lowering your hourly wage by making you pay for a walkout.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the law concerning a group of friends and/or colleagues with one leaving without paying? Can the remaining guests be held responsible for their friends tab?
ReplyDeleteHey Jay Mr. Kuvin will not reply to this because he is a fake and phony who does not care about the employee or worker. He only cares about lining his pockets. He is so money hungry it shows. I went to his office so that he could take a case I HAD against another restaurant but he told me that he was not going to take it because I had sued several other restaurants? Big fucken deal buddy? The point is that this restaurant and most restaurants rip off there employees. You do do bird.
ReplyDelete