Colorado Restaurant Wage Laws and Violations

colorado mountainsDue to lax enforcement, the restaurant industry is notorious for violating state and federal wage laws.  As a result, thousands of cooks, bussers, bartenders, servers, hostesses and dishwashers in this industry have had and are having their wages stolen by their employer.  The top wage violations in this industry are:

  • Stealing employee tips and gratuities (including auto-gratuities and service charges, or using them to pay management, kitchen workers or restaurant expenses such as breakage, customer walk-outs or credit card processing fees).
  • Failing to pay workers overtime for all hours worked in excess of 12 per day or 40 per week. Even salaried workers usually are entitled to this overtime pay.
  • Miscalculating the overtime pay rate for tip credit employees. The overtime rate should never be less than $8.98.
  • “Shaving” or under-reporting worked hours to avoid paying for those hours.
  • Failing to provide meal and rest breaks.
  • Paying tip credit employees the tip credit rate when they are performing work that does not generate tips such as cleaning.
  • Deducting employee pay for restaurant expenses such as breakage and customer walkouts.

If your employer is violating the restaurant tip laws and overtime pay laws, you (and other employees) may be entitled to thousands of dollars of back pay. Please contact us for a free and confidential case evaluation or simply to learn more about restaurant workers and the tip laws and overtime pay laws.