Tips News
Dallas bar must reimburse bartenders for tips given to kitchen staff
Peak Inn Dallas
Bartenders who worked for two Dallas bars are set to recoup a small windfall of nearly $200,000 in lost tips.
According to a release from the U.S. Department of Labor, 20 bartenders who worked at The Peak Inn and Adair's Saloon will get $197,902 — money that the bars' owner shared with employees in the kitchen, who do not receive tips.
The recovery follows an investigation by the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division which discovered that owner Joe Morales, who owns both bars, was operating an illegal tip pool in which tips earned by the bartenders were shared with the restaurants’ cooks.
While this sounds like a generous act to the kitchen staff, the division found the employer violated federal minimum wage and overtime provisions by not paying cooks at least the federally required $7.25 per hour for all hours worked, and not paying them time-and-one-half their regular rate of pay for hours over 40 per workweek.
Investigators also determined the employer did not combine an employee’s work hours when they worked as a bartender and a cook and when an employee worked at both restaurants.
Divide that $197,902 by 20 bartenders and each bartender will get about $10,000 apiece.
“Like many workers, bartenders spend long days and nights on their feet in the hope that great customer service earns them good tips,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Jesus A. Valdez in Dallas. “The Peak Inn and Adair’s Saloon illegally withheld tips that are these bartenders’ property and shared them with non-tipped employees."
This is the same Peak Inn that made CultureMap's list of "5 Hot New Bars" in January 2020. It earned a nomination for Best Bar in CultureMap's Tastemaker Awards two years in a row, in 2021 and in 2022, not to mention earning a nomination for Best Burger in 2023.
Adair's Saloon also earned a nomination for Best Bar in 2014, made CultureMap's list of 10 best places for a first date, and was touted as the dive bar God would have created, if he were to create a dive bar.
The investigations are part of an ongoing food service industry initiative to identify wage violators, recover back wages and, when appropriate, assess damages and civil money penalties.
In fiscal year 2023, the Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $29.6 million in back wages for nearly 26,000 food service workers and assessed food service employers $6.1 million in penalties.
