Help Wanted: Manager not entitled to money in tip jar

DEAR CARRIE: I have a question regarding tip jars. Last week, I went to a local yogurt shop near closing time and I put $3 in the tip jar on the counter, presumably for the young woman who helped me. I bought the frozen yogurt to go, and my children and I ate it in the car. The shop was closing up, and I happened to see a woman who I assume was the manager or owner take the tip money and put it in the register.

This really bothered me. The shop was closed so I didn't say anything, but I feel that what she did was wrong. I, and I'm assuming other customers, put money in a tip jar thinking it goes to the person who helps customers. Is the manager's action legal? Do you have any suggestions on how to handle this? It's been a week, and it still bothers me. -- Tips on Tips?

DEAR TIPS: It is illegal for managers to take tips left for tipped employees, and federal law is crystal clear on the subject.

"A tip is the sole property of the tipped employees," the regulations say.

"Tipped employees" work in jobs for which they "customarily and regularly" receive tips. Your server certainly seems to be one of those employees.

Waitstaff can share tips with members of a "valid tip pool" such as busboys and bartenders, but they cannot legally be forced to share with managers.

That said, employers can use the value of the tips employees receive each week as a credit against the minimum wage they must pay the tipped employees. In New York State, employers can claim as much as $3 an hour in tip credits against the $8-an-hour minimum wage that they must pay food service workers like waitstaff and busboys. But employers cannot legally take tip money.

The manager you saw could well be planning to return the tip money to employees. But I agree that throwing the tip jar money into the register calls into question her intentions.

As for how you can handle similar situations in the future, I would give the tip directly to the server. Or along with a tip you could drop a note in the tip jar that says "for waitstaff, not managers."

DEAR CARRIE: An employee had a fender bender with a company vehicle late in the work day. This caused him to return the vehicle to the office two hours later than his normal time. Is the company obligated to pay overtime for those two hours? -- Repairs and Overtime?

DEAR REPAIRS: You have to pay him for the time he was delayed, said the Long Island office of the U.S. Labor Department.

"If the company required the employee to return to the office, as opposed to going home . . . then that is hours worked," said Irv Miljoner, who heads the Long Island office. "It's unfortunate, and might seem unfair to the employer, but it's clearly an incident that entails time that is employment-related."

Possible better news is that you don't have to pay him overtime, unless the two hours him put over 40 hours for the week. Labor laws compute overtime on a weekly basis, not a daily one.

Some employers might be tempted to make the employee pay for the repairs. But that would violate state law, which prohibits employers from deducting employees' pay or demanding separate payments to cover the cost of work-related damages.