Rule would let employers keep workers’ tips

Here’s a tip for politicians and bureaucrats backing a federal government plan that could let employers pocket the hard-earned tips of hourly workers: Forget about it.

The U.S. Department of Labor is floating a proposed rule change to rescind portions of a 2011 Obama-era rule mandating tipped workers get to keep their tips.

If the change occurs, many restaurant patrons will question — and rightly so — whether that 15 percent or 20 percent tip added to the charge card or left on the table is going to the person who provided service or if it ends up in the pockets of an owner.

Keep in mind, that’s money meant to go to workers often striving to make it in the new hardscrabble “gig” economy.

In theory, the Labor Department’s planned rule change will allow employers to pool tips and share them with other workers who are typically off the gratuity grid, including dishwashers and cooks. The idea is to spread the cash around more evenly between traditionally tipped and non-tipped staffers.

It’s a benevolent and equitable concept, one the Illinois Restaurant Association, with 8,000 members, agrees with in theory. But there’s no reason to believe the Labor De- partment’s flawed switcheroo will achieve its lofty objective.

That’s because the proposed change — which applies to thousands of companies paying the federal minimum wage — would also allow employers to pocket tips. Management would have carte blanche to use those proceeds for other business purposes — fixing a roof or remodeling a kitchen, say legal experts who’ve reviewed the proposal.