This is by no means comprehensive, but I have been noticing that there seems to be a lot of confusion around what business owners are allowed to do with tips in the US, so I wanted to address some of the situations I see frequently here:
First off, business owners may never, in any state in the US, take your tips for themselves.
Management cannot be given your tips. (There is some ambiguity regarding supervisors, but only when they do not have any real power over you. For example, if someone can write you up or makes your schedule, they cannot have your tips.)
Some things I see here frequently:
But the business pays over regular (non tipped) minimum wage! STILL NOT ALLOWED TO TAKE YOUR TIPS!
But I'm in a state that has practically no labor law enforcement. STILL FEDERALLY ILLEGAL. Take it to the National Labor Relations Board(NLRB). It will take a while, but it is all of our responsibility to make sure that none of us are exploited. Taking a little time to report wage theft is the least we can do.
But they take the tips and buy us things/do things for us. YOUR TIPS ARE TO BE GIVEN TO YOU IN CASH, JUST LIKE THEY WERE GIVEN TO YOU. They cannot choose how to spend your money.
But they are donating the tips to charity. THEY ARE STILL YOUR TIPS. You can donate them to charity. The owner doesn't need to be stealing your money for his write off.
But they only take some of them. STILL YOUR MONEY. Not theirs to take.
TL;DR: Owners and Managers are not allowed to keep your tip money or take some for themselves.
Thank you for hanging in there for my rant.