Casa Nueva’s recent switch to a “no tipping” policy caused confusion and a drop in tips at Restaurant Salaam on West Washington Street.
Casa Nueva, 6 W. State St., decided to eliminate tips altogether, effective Sept. 1, in order to comply with a new amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act passed in 2011, which forbids certain kinds of tip pooling.
Within days of Casa’s new policy enactment, patrons failed to leave tips at Restaurant Salaam, compelling management to put up signs to explain their tipping policy, said Hilarie Burhans, the restaurant’s chef and owner.
Restaurant Salaam used to pool tips equally among all employees, Burhans said, but changed their policy before the Department of Labor recently came to Athens to investigate.
“We had the same tipping system as Casa,” Burhans said. “Nine months ago when we became aware that we were not in compliance with the Department of Labor, we knew we needed to change.”
Salaam’s new policy includes a tip jar at the front of the restaurant that is split between all employees, while tips left at tables are strictly split between servers, Burhans said.
Casa employees are refusing to accept tips altogether and the restaurant is raising its food prices by about 20 percent, effective Sept. 1, to make up the difference, said Sherry Harvey, a worker-owner with 13 years of experience at Casa in a previous Post article.
Restaurant Salaam considered implementing the same “no tipping” policy that Casa Nueva has, but was unsure how the raising of prices would affect the business, Burhans said.
Salaam had a difficult time transitioning because some employees resented the changes, Burhans said.
“Everybody that works in the restaurant is involved in the chain of service,” Burhans said. “For the Department of Labor to tell our employees that some people are deserving of tips and others aren’t is just wrong to me.”
Burhans said that Restaurant Salaam did not get into any trouble with the Department of Labor upon their visit.
“The fact that we had switched voluntarily nine months before (the Department of Labor) came in to check on our data was good,” she said.
Although Burhans said that the Fair Labor Standards Act tipping regulations are in some ways designed to protect employees, she resents that there is a law that made her restaurant change something that seemed fairer before.
“Servers are going to say they like it this way because it’s more money for them,” Burhans said. “But more money for them means less money for other people who are working just as hard.”
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