2 Florida restaurants kept staff tips to cover dine-and-dash customers and illegally charged workers for their uniforms, the DOL says

Two restaurants were located in St. Petersburg, Florida.

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• Two restaurants in Florida kept servers' tips to cover dine-and-dash customers, the DOL said.
• They also charged workers for their uniforms, meaning some were paid less than the minimum wage.
• A total of $190,730 in back wages and liquidated damages was recovered for the workers, per the DOL.

Two restaurants in Florida kept servers' tips and illegally charged workers for their uniforms, the Department of Labor (DOL) said on Thursday.

The DOL said that the two Mexican restaurants in St. Petersburg, a city in the Tampa Bay area, withheld tips earned by bartenders and servers to pay for customers who skipped out on their bills, which it said ranged from $10 to $175 per day.

The violations occurred between February 2020 and April 2022; the two investigations were resolved without needing litigation, the DOL told Insider.

Employers are not allowed to keep staff tips under any circumstances under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The two restaurants – Red Mesa Restaurant and Red Mesa Cantina – had also deducted the cost of employees' uniforms from their wages, meaning that some were paid less than the minimum wage. The DOL would not confirm how much staff were charged for their uniforms. 

Red Mesa Restaurant and Red Mesa Cantina also failed to pay the correct overtime rate of 1 ½ times workers' normal hourly pay for hours worked over 40 in a week. This included when some staff worked at both restaurants in the same week, the DOL said. 

The restaurants additionally didn't log workers' hours correctly in payroll records, the department said. 

Insider contacted both restaurants via their website and social media pages but did not immediately hear back. 

A total of $190,730 in back wages and liquidated damages was recovered for the 89 affected workers, the DOL said.

Thousands of Americans quit their jobs in the hospitality industry during the pandemic because of factors such as low wages, rude customers, concerns about COVID-19, and long working hours. Some restaurants have boosted wages and improved benefits in an effort to retain their workers.

As of January 2023, the number of workers in food services and at drinking establishments was almost back at pre-pandemic levels, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Average wages have gone up by around $4 an hour since the start of the pandemic, BLS data shows.

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