Tip Sharing with Back of House Workers

New York State law prohibits kitchen workers from participating in a restaurant’s tip pool even though their work has a direct impact on the customer’s overall experience. This results in a growing disparity of income and can breed animosity between kitchen workers and servers (bartenders, bussers, runners) who often earn significantly more money than their colleagues in the kitchen because they earn tips. The NYC Hospitality Alliance has been advocating to amend the law to allow non-managerial kitchen workers (if the employer chooses to) to participate in a restaurant’s tip pool, which is allowed in other states around the country, and will provide restaurants with greater flexibility in helping their small businesses recover and employ New Yorkers in good jobs.