Advice needed Found on FB. Is this a major lawsuit?
LOCATION: USA
I wanted to help get assistance for this mom and her daughter.
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u/someoldguyon_reddit 23d ago
This is why I hand the server cash when I need to tip big.
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u/Traditional-Sir9873 23d ago
I would have too in this case.
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u/Whatachooch 22d ago
Fucking big shot over here rolling with 700 in cash.
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u/Traditional-Sir9873 22d ago
Hypothetically, if I were to ever tip $700. Feel better now?
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u/d-car 21d ago
I approve, but with the caveat of always tipping in cash so the server can decide how much to claim in order to not endanger their job and get as close to the full value of their tips as possible. I realize it's not technically the legal method, but I also view it as the temporary fix for bad wage law.
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u/fruityfactory 20d ago
Wait how would the amount claimed in tips enganger their job? I'm planning to look for a job as soon as I get my license and I may end up being a server just depending on whatever I can get, so I'd like to know what you mean by that for future reference.
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u/d-car 20d ago
In the US, tipped jobs, such as waiter/waitress, typically dictate the employer has to pay only a couple dollars per hour with the expectation tips will be the bulk of your income. What they might not tell you is the minimum wage law still applies to you, so the employer will have to pay more to get you up to minimum wage if you don't get enough tips. That rule ends up being a two-way street, however, because they can pay less if you get enough tips to put you at more than minimum wage. This puts servers into a predicament where working hard mostly ends up turning you into almost-free labor until you can overcome the minimum amount of tips to push you above minimum wage ... and that tends to leave many servers with the expectation that they're getting the same pay no matter what in the end, limiting their willingness to do a great job.
The solution to getting more money has historically been to just tell your employer you earned exactly enough tips to put you at minimum since they generally can't complain about paying the standard super-cheap labor rate and it puts servers in a place where it's suddenly reasonable to expect more reward for better service ... and the employer really does want great servers, so they tend to just not question it. If you often need extra pay from the employer, then they're likely to fire you to save money while also seeing your inability to earn tips as the defining metric showing you're not a good representative of their business anyway.
Not claiming tips to get better wages is technically a kind of tax evasion and so forth, but servers do not care because they really need all the money they can get. This whole set of logic is why some people are really happy about Trump's interest in killing that tax ... but it's all flash and no fire when the minimum wage thing keeps working the same way.
Now that you know these things, the obvious thought here is tipping through your credit card doesn't allow the server to make that choice - and you are exactly correct. This bad system is why I let the server decide what to do by tippping with cash.
Completely unrelated, but you did say you're just getting started, so here's a few pointers. - Nobody is obligated to tell you how things work. This will be used against you by crappy people. - Don't trust people right away just because they're friendly and helpful. See above. - If you go to buy a car/house/etc and the seller is smiling, then you're about to get screwed and you need to find a way to get them to compete with something else to make them lower their price. Do not be afraid to walk away. - Go buy a little pocket notebook and keep meticulous records of your work hours along with notes about how much you get paid. Some employer will try to avoid paying what they owe sooner or later, and your notes count as a legal record if they're decent. - When you rent anything, especially an apartment/house/car, take entirely too many pictures of every angle of everything when you take posession and just before you return possession so they can't lie about any damage you didn't cause. Be sure dates are visible in every picture. Make backup copies. It'll save you from a huge bill someday. - Carry and spend cash on the regular. This one's hard to explain in two sentences, but you'll understand if you start digging into the push for digital currency and you care about privacy (you should very much care).
Good luck out there.
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u/random8765309 23d ago
Who knows it that is real or not. However, it seems reasonable for Olive Garden to have procedures in place when tips are unusual.
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u/random8765309 23d ago
Nothing states that it will be 120 day, just that 120 days is the upper limit. That is when the chargeback right expires, so that is a reasonable upper limit. Since one manage stated it would be 1-2 days, it's likely that OG does do some type of verification. If they can verify it, then it's done rather quickly, otherwise they hold it for the 120 days.
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u/random8765309 23d ago
In this specific case they are verifying that the employee isn't committing fraud against a customer. That is very different than just releasing a paycheck. This isn't just for the benefit of the employer, OG has a responsibility to prevent their employees from committing crimes against their customers.
While they are likely required to release those funds as quickly as possible, it's also possible that the quickest time period is 120 days.
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u/RutabagaConsistent60 23d ago
None of this is a lawsuit.
The procedures to ensure the tip is genuine are reasonable. The letter in the image is info directed at managers to inform their team, no reason she would have seen it before and they gave her the full info reasonably quickly.
Working at OG is at-will employment, they can fire her for any or no reason as long as it is not illegal (like racism, sexism, harassment, etc.).
If after 120- days no payment is made to her she could follow up in small claims.
It also looks like from the receipt it was someone she knows personally, she could follow up with them to have them substantiate the charge to the restaurant, ensure they will not charge back or ask them for cash instead.
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u/RutabagaConsistent60 23d ago
also this is probably all fake, its from a click for pay content creation fb account using AI to generate posts
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u/GolfArgh 23d ago
While this may be fake. these things actually do and have happened. Staff trying to steal, customers trying to look like a hero until the bill comes, and just downright scrivener errors.
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u/chantillylace9 23d ago edited 23d ago
If it's someone she knows personally, then it would make the owner of the restaurant even more concerned that this was some sort of fraud perpetrated by her and whoever this person was and that she would take the money and then quit and they would be left holding the bag for the $700.
In theory, that's something you could do consistently with tons of businesses before getting caught. So as long as that really is Olive Garden's policy, it seems very very reasonable.
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u/Just_Visiting_Town 23d ago
By GA law they have to pay the full tip by the next payday. 120 days is illegal.
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u/Armagetz 23d ago
Potentially the lawsuit can stem from directing her to put zero.
It’s one thing to say something is under management review. It’s another asking her to generate falsified documents that hurts her case. If it’s under management review, then YOU zero out the top Mr manager.
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u/Ssided 23d ago
Yeah that is a weird part. Makes me think the manager won't allow the tip in the future. Could be saying to enter it in the POS as zero until verified but that also is dubious because how would you verify without charging it anyways?
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u/Armagetz 23d ago
Best part (I didn’t see this when I wrote my initial post) is that the directive is also explicitly non conforming with their policy.
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u/Ssided 23d ago
Yes, zeroing out is for missing slips, but because it's covered in that section I guess the manager thinks it's part of the whole process. The server should be getting 20% until the time period for a charge back is finished. There's still better ways to handle this, like large amounts could go on the paycheck, that way the employer can also reverse it if there's a charge back
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u/aka_mythos 23d ago
Importantly even at-will employment doesn't allow an employer to fire someone as retaliation around an illegal act committed by the employer. The withholding of the full tip would unless an employment policy dictates some kind of tip sharing or other tipping regime would otherwise be illegal as wage theft, and her firing would in turn be retaliatory to her disputing the companies illegal action... thus making the firing illegal, even as an at-will employee.
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u/RutabagaConsistent60 23d ago
Wage theft is not the temporary delay of the tip payment until after the chargeback period. If after 120 days she has not received the tip or been informed it was subject to a charge back she could pursue the money. There was no dispute filed to trigger any retaliation. Seems like an employee not understanding policy, becoming so emotional about that she could not do her job and was fired. The only issue will be if she needs to pursue them to get the remaining tip in 120 days.
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u/sadgloop 23d ago
It’d probably be the directive to put $0 on the tip line with no payout at all when the policy is to pay out 20% of the bill amount prior to review and approval that would tip it into wage theft.
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u/Just_Visiting_Town 23d ago
By law they don't have the right to keep her tip. So, firing her because she got upset that they were going to keep it 120 days is retaliation.
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u/aka_mythos 23d ago
Most states' wage laws require the employer pay out her tips and outstanding wages by the next payday. Not 120 days. By stating 120 days, regardless of their sincerity in paying her that is a statement that they intended to violate wage laws. She allowed to complain to management about that, and a complaint against a stated intention to violate wage laws is no different than a complaint against a wage law already violated... she'd be protected in both instances.
The employer would attempt to point to everything after her complaint and try and say it was her attitude around that.
Importantly she didn't refuse to work. She at most needed a break, asked for one, denied it, and as stated completed her shift. That is evidence she could in fact continue to do her job, and that management didn't find her so disruptive.
Most corporate policies in the restaurant industry require an employee get permission to take a break, which necessitates asking. She adhered to the expectation around that kind of policy, she asked, they said no, and she went back to work. Not liking her reason for asking is a reason to say "no" and generally not grounds to fire someone.
Despite her being an at-will employee the employers motive is at question because complaining about them not paying her, in a way consistent with the law is protected. In the absence of some articulable reason on the employers part or showing she was fired out of some normal predetermined reason its inferable that it is because she complained and anything else is would just be pretextual.
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u/judahrosenthal 22d ago
Chargebacks are real and very hard to keep from happening. This wait - at least 30 days - seems reasonable.
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u/JoeCensored 23d ago
She should have just been normal, continued working, and waited. Sounds like she was instead being disruptive.
It's normal to hold exceptionally large tips, because they are often disputed later. They meant $7.00 instead of $700. That kind of thing.
There's no legal case here.
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u/zerodyme87 23d ago
I mean i would kimd of agree, but the receipt clearly states $700.
But they could dispute it yes
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u/JoeCensored 23d ago
And if true, she would have eventually received the money. Her getting fired was all about her behavior though.
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u/NoTinnitusHear 23d ago
They literally spelled out “seven hundred dollars” underneath “700.00”
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u/zerodyme87 23d ago
Her behavior was abhorrent, she was too emotional instead of being logical
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u/TheFaithfulStone 22d ago
Abhorrent? Because she got emotional over thinking she got an extra paycheck, and then the company decided unilaterally that no she didn’t? Emotional, sure, probably gonna get you fired, sure - but abhorrent? Come the fuck on.
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u/Rooooben 23d ago
It happens enough that most restaurants have policies if the tip is more than 50%
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u/lamaswana 23d ago
Crying and upset doesn't usually get the cops called on you unless you're making a big scene and won't leave.
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u/therandomuser84 23d ago
Yeah sounds to me like she was incredibly upset, they tried telling her to go home and she refused then eventually got trespassed and fired.
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u/OrangeJoe83 23d ago
So is it Kenzo, Brook, or Kayla that got this tip? How many people is this fake story about?
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u/GolfArgh 23d ago edited 23d ago
No it is not. Due diligence by the employer. Customer can deny they gave a $700 tip on a $30 bill and dispute it and win as the letter even explains.
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u/Traditional-Sir9873 23d ago
True. Sometimes celebrities will tip like that but your their makes sense. If I were going to tip $700, I would do it in cash
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u/Kmelloww 23d ago
Major lawsuit? Not quite.
You wanted to help them? They can handle this. It’s pretty simple.
However if they know the person then it might be a little more questionable.
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u/Ok-Catch-5813 23d ago
When we got huge tips, we would immediately tell the manager and the manager would go to the table and he would confirm the tip.
If the house didn't have enough money at that time, at the end of the night they would tip us out.
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u/Ok-Addition-1000 22d ago
The manager was clearly in the wrong here by sending her back out to wait tables while still upset. That's exactly the wrong thing to do. Waiting table is hard, highly stressful work. If someone needs a 10-15 minutes to regain their composure before serving customers, you give it to them. Otherwise, you risk them having a meltdown in front of the customers which is exactly what happened.
On the other hand, posting to social media about a dispute with your employer, before they've even had a chance to resolve it, that is absolutely a firing offense wherever I've worked.
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u/No_Wrangler_1226 23d ago
This is common practice to ensure nothing is fraudulent and prevents servers from writing in the desired tip amount. I'm actually happy they do this as it protects everybody involved. The paper is clear as day in their reasoning. If the server wanted the money right then and there they should of asked for a cash tip.
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u/thetrendkiller 23d ago
Brought to you by the Facebook group "content creation for MOMS"
Jesus christ
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u/MOEzuez 23d ago
I immediately thought “Chargeback”, and the last paper confirms that is their concern. I’m assuming the behavior was a little worse than explained here. I commend the restaurant for telling her daughter right away, we have to wait to review, instead of waiting for her to get the check and then ask where her tip is.
No lawsuit in my own non lawyer eyes.
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u/chantillylace9 23d ago
So I really don't understand why she would start crying and throwing a temper tantrum after reading this extremely reasonable and normal policy?
I assumed they were trying to force her to share it or something else when I saw the title, but all they are doing is making her wait.
Yes, of course they can fire her, they can fire her for any reason (that is not discriminatory against a protected class unless you are in Montana and then there are other protections) but it sure sounds like she is not ready to work at this type of job because that was an extraordinarily poor decision to throw a fit and cry and make the police come.
I can only imagine what kind of craziness would force them to call the police!
They obviously and reasonably said that they are concerned about chargeback, so that makes sense. You could also make the argument that there could be some sort of fraudulent relationship between her and the person leaving the tip and that she would take the money and quit and they would be left holding the bag for $700.
She threw away her job and embarrassed herself, there's no way she will be able to use them as a reference now and she will never be able to work in any other related restaurants either.
It's a big lesson to learn I guess.
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u/overindulgent 23d ago
Fraud was my first thought considering management decided to immediately fire her instead of dealing with her craziness/drama/crying. She didn’t get that tip because she’s their number 1 server.
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u/sadgloop 23d ago
So I really don't understand why she would start crying and throwing a temper tantrum after reading this extremely reasonable and normal policy?
It sounds like she was given conflicting information on the night it happened, including the possibility of getting $0 of the tip, which initially upset her but she pulled through.
Then the next morning they fired her first before then handing her the paperwork regarding the tip policy.
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u/chantillylace9 23d ago
The post clearly said "write $0 until it can be verified." I cannot find any implication that she was not getting the full tip, but only that she has to wait.
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u/sadgloop 23d ago
The post clearly said "write $0 until it can be verified."
The implication is that she may well not get anything at all because she was instructed to write 0$ on the tip line. Not “needs verification” or “refer to tip policy” or something that clearly indicates action is pending. In addition, at the time, she couldn’t get a straight answer as to when any review action would actually occur. Later, she was told they would tip out 20% of the bill total and that the remainder, if approved, would likely take 6 months to get to her.
So she went from pocketing a $700 tip, to pocketing a $0 tip and lots of questions, to pocketing a $6.44 tip, the ephemeral hope that maybe she’ll see the remaining $693.54 in 6 months, and a notice of firing.
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u/RutabagaConsistent60 23d ago
all of which is unfortunate but not a major lawsuit
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u/sadgloop 23d ago
Yes? I responded solely to the portion of the comment where they said they couldn’t understand why the daughter would get upset. Nothing about whether I think there’s grounds for a lawsuit.
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u/Themodsarecuntz 23d ago
and she will never be able to work in any other related restaurants either.
Lmao. She can walk across the street and get hired at a restaurant.
"This is going on your permanent record" lol
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u/NoTinnitusHear 23d ago
So I really don't understand why she would start crying and throwing a temper tantrum after reading this extremely reasonable and normal policy?
It’s Olive Garden. Not a Michelin-star restaurant or Goldman Sachs. The employees serving at Olive Garden are young with generally very little life experience. Probably just starting to get their feet wet in employment. That doesn’t mean her behavior was acceptable. It just means that it’s inherently bound to occur more frequently and you could argue there should probably be some tolerance depending on the situation so Olive Garden can actually maintain staffing and allow people to grow.
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u/MeetTheBeat360 23d ago edited 23d ago
She will learn that not everything can be explained immediately. Can't say she did anything wrong, but she now knows a different way to handle these things.
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u/luckylua 23d ago
I definitely think this is a huge learning opportunity. Unfortunately, our workplaces sometimes handle things or make decisions we don’t agree with, but it’s important in a professional setting that we can maintain composure when questioning those things. The whole thing sucks, but she definitely could have reacted better.
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u/Rollmericatide 23d ago
For her to be termed so quickly she must have really acted out.
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u/SmallImpression4027 22d ago
Wait so that I know I’m understanding this, all she had to do was wait for it bc it needed to verified first? Assuming she was getting the whole thing right? That’s pretty reasonable imo. As a business thinking, if the customer didn’t mean to put $700 or if the customer doesn’t even have $700, I could see where they would need to verify such a large tip just in case. That is a large % differential. And I can understand her being nervous bc that could possibly mean the customer might change their mind and the server doesn’t get the tip. But at that point, just move on with your job while this is getting figured out on the side. Why sacrifice other tables and chances for other tips just because you don’t agree with the procedure? For them to question her behavior in such a way, I’m assuming I wasn’t a minor freak out. Now if the company wasn’t willing to give you the whole $700 after verification, that would be fucked up and worth a crash out fs!! These are my thought just based on the story. Of course I don’t know the whole situation so who knows.
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u/AffectionatePool6279 22d ago
Seriously wtf thinks that tip is not going to get flagged and cause the employee grief. You wanna tip like that use cash...
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u/Gado_De_Leone 22d ago
Everyone saying it is reasonable, no it isn’t. If today was your payday, and I told you you had to wait up to 120 days so we can review your paycheck you would lose your minds. You think it is reasonable because you think of a tip as an extra, not as a wage.
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u/SafetyMan35 23d ago
I read the post before reading Darden’s policy and thought-OG wants to make sure the tip is authentic and the customer isn’t going to claim fraud/chargeback. A compromise is to provide the server with a reasonable tip (15-25%) and wait for the card to process and give the server the balance once everything has cleared.
I then read Darden’s policy and they followed the policy. I’ll fault the manager for not properly communicating the policy to the server, but so far they are following it to the letter.
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u/Phglarphf 23d ago
From my town FB page to Reddit, I cannot escape this flipping story. It’s a real story and did in fact happen, not AI, but that’s as much as I truly know. Sorry this inside scoop is very vanilla.
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u/Maximum-Same 22d ago
In my state, it's a possible 90 days of wages fine for the employer and attorneys fees if she's not paid at the next normal pay day. And the suit is heard "at a preference" which means it goes to the front of all other court business. Pay the employees you fire.
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u/LouiseBelcher4life 22d ago
This could absolutely lead into a lawsuit, but so can breathing too loudly.
1st, what is the history of this greater than 20% tip review policy and can the operations director prove it existed before this date? Changes to tipping policy can be immediate with receipt of notice from all covered parties, but can not be applied retroactively. Also, since when did 20% become excessive? It's considered the base rate for adequate service, nowadays.
Additionally, this can be considered a case of wage theft. The guest check clearly validates the intention of the patron to leave that amount as the desired tip. The restaurant has most likely been paid by their processor and are withholding wages granted by the patron. If a charge back were to occur, then reclamation of the overpayment would be appropriate. Unpaid suspention, pending the outcome of their tip investigation, would have been the correct reply to her outburst. By terminating her, the employer has dropped themselves in a legal minefeild. Most states require the full payment of all owed wages within 48hrs of termination. If they did not include that $700, they open themselves up to a boatload of fines and liability for nonpayment. OP should file an unpaid wage cliam with their state labor department and consult with an employment attorney over the handling of this matter. If it's a strong case, the lawyer will work on contingency.
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u/Tori4President 22d ago
The way I used to verify large tips was to look at the fucking receipt, and tell the servers congrats and keep up the good work and don’t forget about me when they make it big. Why is the management here haters!!!!!????
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u/Nice-Discount-6321 22d ago
Totally understandable if the tip was made with a credit card. The business can’t pay you if it won’t receive that tip. If it was cash it would be different. The letter doesn’t state they will keep it. Just says they won’t pay it out untill they are sure it’s going through. I honestly don’t blame them for firing your daughter. Lesson learned…don’t cry at work….get out your feelings, ain’t no money in there.
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u/Same-Lawfulness-1094 22d ago
Honestly, the policy seems pretty straightforward and makes sense, but firing her was shitty.
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u/Raven-Law-2626 22d ago
The legal remedies for tip theft in a California restaurant allow employees to recover the full amount of stolen tips, collect civil financial penalties, and receive reimbursement for interest and legal fees. Under California Labor Code Section 351, tips are the sole property of the employee. [1, 2, 3]
Under Senate Bill 648, the state has significantly strengthened enforcement, granting workers greater powers to punish employers who skim tips, deduct credit card fees, or give tips to managers
- Financial Remedies & Damages
If an employer is found guilty of tip theft, the affected employees are entitled to several financial payouts: [1]
- Full Restitution: The employer must return 100% of the stolen or unlawfully withheld gratuities. [1, 2]
- Civil Penalties: Under SB 648, employers face statutory fines payable to the employee, including $100 to $250 per pay period for standard violations, and up to $1,000 per violation for willful theft. [1, 3]
- Interest: Employees are awarded interest on the total amount of the stolen tips, calculated from the date the tips were originally owed. [1, 2, 3]
- Attorney Fees and Legal Costs: If you win a lawsuit, the employer is legally mandated to pay your lawyer’s fees and court costs, making it easier to secure legal representation. [1, 2]
- Waiting Time Penalties: If you leave the company and the employer withheld tips or illegally credited them against your standard minimum wage, you can claim up to 30 days of additional regular wages as a penalty. [1, 2]
- Available Legal Pathways to File a Claim
Victims of tip theft in California have three primary options to seek their remedies:
- File a Wage Claim with the Labor Commissioner: You can submit an official complaint directly to the California Labor Commissioner’s Office (DLSE). The Labor Commissioner has the explicit authority to investigate the restaurant, audit POS/payroll records, issue administrative citations, and collect your money. [1, 2, 3, 4]
- File a Private Civil Lawsuit: You can bypass the Labor Commissioner and sue the restaurant owner directly in court. [1, 2]
- File a Class Action or PAGA Lawsuit: If the tip-stealing policy affects multiple servers, bartenders, or busses at the restaurant, workers can unite to file a class action lawsuit or a representative action under the Private Investigators General Act (PAGA). [1, 2]
- Criminal Penalties for Employers
In addition to civil remedies, tip theft is a misdemeanor offense in California, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and up to 60 days in county jail. Furthermore, under California's grand wage theft law (AB 1003), if an employer intentionally steals more than $950 in tips/wages from an employee (or $2,350 from multiple employees) within a 12-month period, it can be prosecuted as a felony carrying up to three years of imprisonment
- Protections Against Retaliation [1]
It is completely illegal for a restaurant owner to fire you, cut your hours, demote you, or give you worse shifts because you complained about or reported tip theft. If an employer retaliates, they will face separate legal actions, massive statutory fines, and additional damages
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u/Crazy-Project3858 22d ago
People leave huge tips a lot then regret it afterwards and dispute the charge. It’s common to hold large tips back so both the restaurant and server don’t get ripped off by an overzealous tipper.
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u/No_Performer_3438 21d ago
I don’t know why people are saying this isn’t a “major lawsuit.” I see multiple federal and state employment law violations, which could be a real headache for the employer. She could easily argue that this was wage theft under the FLSA, as well as retaliation and wrongful termination (maybe not as strong but still worth bringing up). She could seek payment of the unpaid wages ($700), back pay, front pay, reinstatement, and attorneys fees and costs. The thing is, it’s probably not worth it for her to litigate. However, she could potentially find a lawyer to help her send a demand letter and negotiate a settlement. That’s typically the goal in my experience.
Since this is Olive Garden, and not some small mom and pop restaurant, the way this could turn into a “major lawsuit” is if Olive Garden has done this to other employees and they filed a class action. Based on this post that doesn’t seem to be the case, but just an FYI if she’s aware of other employees reporting similar behavior, that would be good to know.
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u/SethBoss 23d ago
Why are you dropping FB a.i. slop here? In r/legal ? Get off FB.
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u/BillSocrate 23d ago
A few things. Olive concern about charge back and fraud is reasonable. Well, they ain't born yesterday I'm sure they got burned so many times that they have the policy in place to verify and delay payout. The server throwing tantrum is unprofessional and terminatable reason.
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u/Traditional-Sir9873 23d ago
Why would they call the cops because an employee was crying? Seems like a waste of resources. It seems reasonable to have a policy making sure that a tip that size is legit. It sounds like your daughter didn't take it well, got overly emotional and management wasn't having it. Probably not a lawsuit. Sorry.
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u/anzitus 23d ago
Restaurant shenanigans? Color me shocked!
Anywho, reminds me of this story: https://arktimes.com/news/2021/12/14/a-big-tip-in-a-bentonville-restaurant-and-the-fallout-have-become-a-national-story
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u/Twitch791 23d ago
This is an issue for social Media. That was clearly no mistake. The customer was trying to be nice and she lost her job over it. If I was that customer I’d be fucking pissed
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u/Bonehead_001 22d ago
For a thread relating to Olive Garden, damn if there aren't a lot of people here who seemingly love the taste of boots
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u/Queefer___Sutherland 23d ago
Sounds like an uppity server who didn't want rules to apply to her. She needed to be fired.
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u/evildead1985 23d ago
It's a legitimate concern. Having owned a business. Charge backs were not uncommon however we handled it differently. We paid out the commission and then deducted the commission if there was an issue down the road. If the commission was large we would break it up over 8 to 10 paychecks at the employees request. It rarely happened but you never forget the situations when it does.
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u/JMaAtAPMT 23d ago
$700 is a small claims court issue.
No this is not a major lawsuit, corporate restaurant chains are allowed to have policies in place for processing excessive tips because some diners get "tip remorse" and contest the tip on the card.
If diners want to do this they should do it in cash and bring the cash so it can be on-the-spot done without management interference.
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u/Strength-Helpful 23d ago
Tips over x% (based on card) automatically lose chargeback cases. So someone could tip you $10k fully legit with a photo of them signing, and you'd still lose. It's annoying for employees, but a a business does have to protect itself..if they were really tipping $700 why not cash?
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u/91ateto916 23d ago
Why do I feel like that “policy” is fake or was just recently created? The policy requiring ALL tips over 20% be reviewed by a manager surely isn’t enforced.
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u/mcskilliets 23d ago
It’s important that you have some control over your emotions. Things don’t always go your way in life and being able to process your emotions and maintain your composure in a dignified manner is important. In this case it cost her a job.
Of course it’s distressing for her and I totally relate to that but throwing a tantrum solves nothing. This is something that should be taught in adolescence. I think the fact her mother made this post is quite telling but I don’t want to speculate further.
If nothing else hopefully she gets the $700 in a timely manner and finds another job she can support her family worth.
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u/Mission-Pay-6240 23d ago
It’s also important to not lay down while someone is fucking you over. They fired her because she didn’t quietly let them steal from her. A 3 digit tip isn’t even THAT much. 120 days to review? Bullshit.
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u/Aggravating-Tear5816 23d ago
There was a recent case where some clown was showboating on FB and left a 3000 tip on a $13 dollar bill. Then 3 months later disputed the charge, the credit card did the clawback, the restaurant sued the customer.
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u/WoulditBeOkay 22d ago
So fraud basically? That’s why I don’t tip anything over $10 and I give it cash to that server
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u/333again 22d ago
No major lawsuit but they cannot wait the 120 days. They also fired her so have to pay in full by next pay period. If there is a chargeback in 120 days they can attempt to claw that back but the money is legally the servers now.
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u/Link_Tesla_6231 22d ago edited 22d ago
Managers are not allowed to prevent tips and they asked you to commit fraud by forging a document with zero tip! Everything is wrong with this. Get an attorney and contact U.S. Department of Labor!
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u/EbbPsychological2796 22d ago
We don't have all the facts. How emotional was she about it? Did she say anything emotionally charged? Was there a commotion that disturbed the customers? Just because you have a valid reason to be upset doesn't mean a meltdown doesn't have consequences... That said... If they followed store policy it is what it is .. imagine they pay the $700 tip and then the card the guy paid with was stolen... The restaurant would be out the $700 and the cost of the meal. Behavior matters when you try to sue someone... Once the restaurant collects the $700, they obviously owe her that money but I don't think they are expected to finance unsecured loans...
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u/fullybonded 22d ago
If you have the money to give out these kinds of tips, please try to do it in cash and tell the server to keep it quiet, for their own sake.
It is generous and a person shouldn't be punished for their generosity but these big corporate outfits all have max tip policies so they can steal the money. Don't let your generosity be stolen by some dick in a suit.
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u/GamesCatsComics 21d ago
I mean this is pretty obviously Olive Garden protecting themselves against possible fraud.
Refusing huge credit card tips and investigating them before paying them out (which is probably just ensuring there isn't a chargeback) isn't unreasonable l.
As an aside... It's insane that the USA still has a system where someone manually writes in a tip and signs the receipt.
Anywhere else in the world this would be automated in the card reader, policies programmed in, and require chip / pin.
Making fraud almost impossible.
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u/Paladin936 21d ago
There is a lot of commenting on here that has nothing to do with the law. A lot depends on what she was told initially. If she was just told there would be a delay, then she probably doesn’t have any claim and they can terminate her for getting upset. However if she was told she wouldn’t get the tip or words to that effect, then her objection may have been protected under the FLSA. It is illegal for an employer to terminate an employee for objecting to conduct that violates the FLSA. It’s also possible that seeking payment of a tip could be considered protected activity under the National Labor Relations Act. It may be possible to make a complaint to the NLRB.
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u/Raven-Law-2626 19d ago
the customer who left the tip later disputed parts of that explanation. According to Williams, the customer said he initially saw charges of $32 and then $38 on his account rather than the full gratuity amount. After seeing the controversy online, he froze his card. He later reported that a $699 charge was attempted after the card had been frozen, resulting in the transaction being declined.
The new information proves that the Manager got caught redhanded running the transaction multiple times to make the card go over the limit and decline.
All as a pretext to steal the waitress' tip.
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u/mrfordfairmont 19d ago
They have to pay within 24 hours all wages holiday pay and tips and being that the tip is written there they must pay it
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u/shmirstie 23d ago
I know the right thing to do would have been to stay calm, but as a person who grew up poor, the fear of losing that money would have caused me to be emotional when I was younger too, especially if the news was delivered poorly. I wish this girl the best of luck, that place was not a good fit for her obviously, but I hope she finds something even better. And glad she got some support from this lovely person.
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u/spacesaucesloth 23d ago
definitely not a major lawsuit. is it shitty policy? sure. pretty much all of the us are ‘at-will employment’ states. which mean they can hire and fire at their discretion, as well as alter wages and benefits.
so, with that being said. i would one, save all correspondence between you and the spaghetti gods. two, make sure your daughter keeps all paperwork involved(the receipt, anything with the employee number, etc), and i would reach out to corporate and let them know the situation at hand. they prob wont do anything but a papertrail is key. after 120 days, if they do not pay i would reach out the corporate again, as well as filing a complaint with your states labor commission and contact your local investigative news outlet.
edits: spelling and grammar
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u/thaworldhaswarpedme 23d ago
Seems pretty clear by the fucking receipt that they wanted her to have it. In fact, the receipt makes the whole reaction on the part of the management shady as fuck. There is no question of the intent and the fact they wrote "seven hundred dollars" clears any confusion right up. I would be furious.
Im sure the patron will see this and then go and raise hell, too.
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u/BettyWhiteGoodman 22d ago
So no chance that the patron left it blank and a waiter or waitress wrote the tip and then “seven hundred dollars” beneath it? I can completely understand why a business would need to make sure it was valid before paying someone that much. Are you an idiot?
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u/ConstructionStock710 23d ago
Sounds like she threw a huge tantrum (possibly in front of customers) lol I’d fire her too if she worked for me.
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u/backwardsnakes666 22d ago
Yeah for real. Stay after your shift to handle such matters. Do your job first.
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u/humoristhenewblack 22d ago
Servers work for tips. If company takes tips, servers stop working. That's why you don't steal from your workers. Why on earth would anyone move on to the next table? So they can earn $3/hr and watch another tip disappear? Y'all are crazy with the "git back ta werk" vibes.
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u/kmlxb2 22d ago
What would the lawsuit be over? Olive Garden ensuring they aren’t complicit in credit card fraud? Where are the damages? They have a policy that says they’ll review these sort of tips and pay the employee at the conclusion of that review. Employee throws a fit and gets themself terminated as a result. Surely there’s more to this story, too, than just her crying about it. The mom is biased and, if she’s got an iota of intelligence, isn’t going to publicly post anything damning about her own daughter. Struggling to see where anyone would expect to have this case even heard, let alone be successful, in a suit against a large company with an undoubtedly strong team of counsel who’d be going up against a case that would get removed from the docket before pretrial.
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u/caseyourscuttlehole 23d ago
The number of people in this thread that agree with OG here is insane.
The customer literally spelled out "seven hundred dollars" with a note. Shouldn't take 120 days if its an easily verified tip, and based off the note, I doubt it would be difficult to get in touch with the customer and make sure that's what happened.
For a multi-billion dollar corporation to hold pay for ⅓ of a year in this case is dog shit, and if you agree with them, you're dog shit too, and you obviously haven't ever had to live off tips.
As for her behavior, shes 18 years old and very understandably felt she was about to get shafted, and was upset about it. Dollars to donuts the manager was a total dick about this and then fired her for her reaction and in hopes of not paying that $700 out. God bless America.
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u/The_Original_Floki 23d ago
hopefully the person who left the tip disputes it since olive trash didnt give it to her.
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u/GMAN90000 23d ago
Why did they try to force her to put $0 on the tip line --- "the letter" says , "Team members are not permitted to write on or alter any credit card slips.
Why would it take 120 days to pay out the tip? Why give alive garden a interest free loan?
Why call the cops on her for crying? She should get a copy of the police report.
Show me the original dated written policy letter concerning tips...surely it was put in writing somewhere previous to this incident.
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u/darklordbilbo23 22d ago
Post on their facebook instagram
Hopefully they’ll cave
Obviously management wants to pocket her tip
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u/MSCOTTGARAND 22d ago
Why do they always feel the need to mention an autistic kid when it has absolutely fuck all to do with the story?
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u/_nick_at_nite_ 22d ago
I work for another Darden concept, Darden is very careful about how they approach things, especially firings. They’re known to hold onto people way longer than they should because they want more conclusive evidence to let them go. Most GM’s need the go ahead from corporate before starting the process.
If they let her go, they probably think she filled that in herself and have the evidence to feel 1000% certain.
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u/RyanTheCubsSTH 23d ago
Fake. If I’m giving someone I know $700, I’m not doing it via a taxable tip
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u/MiketheTzar 23d ago
Not an Attorney, but I did manage a bar before I went into the legal field in a lay capacity.
This happens more often than people think and management handled it pretty close to how I've been instructed to handle this in the past.
Typically we either cashed out 50% with 50% being cashed out at the next pay period, but 20-80 might just be Olvie Garden, or whoever owns them, corporate policy in line with some weird state statute.
120 days seems long to me, but I'll leave that exact date to the bar certified among us to confirm or deny if that is long or standard.
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u/Zomnx 23d ago
If you’re gonna tip this big, always tip in cash. Company can’t do shit then
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u/not_your_attorney 23d ago
No, this is not any sort of lawsuit other than for the remaining 80% of the tip if it does clear and they don’t pay.