Payday arrives for Chickie’s and Pete’s waitstaff victimized by ‘tip-skimming’

Waitstaff claimed that a manager at each franchise location would collect the “tax” from waitstaff at the shift’s end and that a representative from the corporate office would once a week come and pick up the cash.

Employees who didn’t make enough to cover the tip-out were told by managers to “tap MAC,” or withdraw the money from their personal bank accounts.

The Department of Labor investigated Chickie’s and Pete’s after the tip-skimming lawsuit was filed, and filed a lawsuit of their own against the chain for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Beyond the tip-skimming, the Department of Labor foundthat Chickie’s and Pete’s did not allow waitstaff to leave until their carpeted sections were clean, but only provided them with brooms. Therefore, employees were “required to purchase their own Shark vacuum cleaners.”

Servers were also forced to pay the bills of “dine and dash” patrons and bartenders had to make up for any shortage in their end-of-shift cash till using personal funds. Waiters also had to pay for their own uniforms, and were not paid overtime even when working shifts in excess of 10 hours long.