On December 22, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) gave an
early holiday gift to employers in the restaurant and hospitality
industry. Namely, the agency announced its
long-awaited final rule, which allows employers who do not
take a tip credit to require employees to pool and distribute
employee tips among "back-of-the-house workers," who do
not traditionally receive direct tips. The rule codifies
earlier subregulatory guidance from the DOL on tip pooling, and
also addresses amendments made to the Fair Labor Standards Act
(FLSA) by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 (CAA).
Previously, regardless of whether or not an employer took a tip
credit (and therefore paid employees a lower, "tipped"
minimum wage, mandatory tip pooling was only permitted among
servers and others who traditionally receive tips from
customers. Under the new rule, however, an employer that does
not take a tip credit on employee wages may now pool together the
tips that
