The recent passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 (“H.R. 1625”), an 878-page omnibus spending bill, significantly changes the rules for tip pooling under the Fair Labor Standards Act (the “FLSA”). While the conditions for taking a tip credit toward federal minimum wage obligations remain essentially unchanged, H.R. 1625 appears to permit the inclusion of a larger group of employees in tip pools when a tip credit is not taken. At the same time, H.R. 1625 still prohibits an employer from keeping any portion of the tips received by its employees and expands the scope of remedies and penalties available for violations of the tip rules.
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