Tip pool split

For the end of the night. Put in the cash and card tips and who worked how many hours, pick how the pool is split, and get every person's share and per-hour rate on a sheet the crew can check line by line. Managers and, with a tip credit, the kitchen are kept out as the federal rules say.

The night's tips

Shift or date Cash tips ($) Card tips ($) Card fee taken off card tips (%)

Only the processor's actual fee on the card tips may come off, and no more (DOL Fact Sheet 15). Leave it blank if you pay it.

Who may share We take a tip credit (pay tipped staff less than the full minimum wage in cash) Our state keeps tip pools to staff who serve guests (New York, Massachusetts)

Managers and the owner never take from the pool. Cooks, prep and dishwashers may share only when nobody is paid with a tip credit.

How to split

By hoursSame per hour for everyone in the pool By points x hoursEach role's points times the hours worked By pointsOne share per point, hours not counted

Who worked

Hours from the time clock, not the schedule. Points start at the role's usual weight; change them to your own policy.

Checked by

Name

Kept in this browser only. Nothing is sent to us.

Get each person's hours for the night from a time clock on their own phone, and export the week's timesheet: open tick-tock-done.

How to use it

Write down the split method and the points per role once, as a short policy everyone signs when they start.
At close, count the cash, take the card tips from the batch report and the hours from the time clock.
Put them in, check the sheet, and post it where the schedule hangs, or copy it to the crew's group chat.
Keep each night's sheet with the payroll records for at least three years (29 CFR 516). Card tips are paid out no later than the regular payday.

How it works

The pool is the cash plus the card tips, less the card fee on the card tips only. By hours, the pool is divided by everyone's hours and each person gets their hours times that rate. By points x hours, each person's weight is their role's points times their hours; by points, just their points. Each share is rounded to the cent and the cents left over go to the first name on the list, so the sheet always adds up to the pool.

Managers and the owner are kept out: since 2018 an employer may not keep any part of the tips, through a manager or supervisor either (FLSA section 3(m)). With a tip credit only customarily tipped staff (servers, bartenders, bussers, runners, barbacks, hosts) may share, so cooks, prep and dishwashers are kept out; without one they may be in a mandatory pool (29 CFR 531.54). New York and Massachusetts keep pools to staff who serve guests either way. The starting points (server and bartender 1, busser, runner, barback and host 0.5, cook and prep 0.4, dishwasher 0.3) are examples, not a norm.

The rules, the states without a tip credit and three worked splits of one Saturday are in Tip pooling on a restaurant crew: who can share the tips, and the rules since 2018. This is not legal advice: your state, your city and a union contract can be stricter. Service charges are not tips and are not split here.