JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Alaska will prohibit businesses from requiring employees to share tips among certain workers.
The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development announced last week that Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott signed new regulations to ban mandatory tip pooling, the Juneau Empire reported . However, businesses like restaurants and bars can require their wait staff to share tips with other wait staff, but not with all workers .
The new rules go into effect Friday.
“Employers should not be allowed to confiscate tips,” Labor Commissioner Heidi Drygas said. “These regulations ensure individuals working in Alaska continue to have the right to keep the income they earn through tips.”
When customers give tips to workers, they presume that money will stay with the recipient. The new rules aim to protect customers’ expectations and the wages of servers, the department said.
Employees will still be able to share tips voluntarily, but the regulations forbid employers from forcing the action.
Alaska’s new rules come after the U.S. Department of Labor proposed regulations last year that would allow employers to take a portion of tips wages away from workers. Employers would be considered the “owners” of worker tips under the proposed rules.
In a public comment submitted to the state earlier this year, the Economic Policy Institute estimated that Alaska employers would take about $14.4 million in tips each year from employees. According to tax records, Alaska workers make $40.1 million in tips each year.
The new state regulations do not affect existing state laws that require employees to be paid at least minimum wage without tips calculated into that pay.
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This story has been corrected to say businesses can require wait staff to share tips with other wait staff.
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Information from: Juneau (Alaska) Empire, http://www.juneauempire.com
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