Restaurant's Tip-Pooling Policy Violated California Law
Jameson v. Five Feet Restaurant, Inc., 107 Cal. App. 4th 138 (2003)
Karla Jameson, a former server at Five Feet Restaurant, sued the restaurant for sexual harassment, retaliation, and unpaid wages, among other things, following her resignation in 1999. At trial, the jury found that although Jameson had not been sexually harassed, she had been retaliated against for complaining about alleged sexual harassment. The jury also found that Five Feet's policy requiring its servers to give 10 percent of their tips to the floor manager to be a violation of Labor Code § 351, which prohibits employers or their agents from collecting all or part of an employee's gratuities. The Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment, rejecting Five Feet's argument that its floor managers were not agents of the employer. The Court further held that the trial court's granting of a permanent injunction against Five Feet did not constitute an abuse of discretion.
