News Brief
Marble Slab Creamery franchisee in Panama City Beach kept workers’ tips illegally, investigation recovers $169K in back wages, damages for 144 workers
Employer: Marble Slab Creamery of Pier Park Inc., operating as Marble Slab Creamery
Investigation site: 600 Pier Park, Suite 120, Panama City Beach, FL 32413
Investigation findings: U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found the operator of the Panama City Beach ice cream shop kept all credit card and cash tips the customers left for workers, a wage violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The FLSA prohibits employers from keeping any portion of a worker’s tips, regardless of the hourly wage they may pay the employee.
Back Wages and Liquidated Damages Assessed: $169,638 in back wages for 144 workers.
Quote: “Tips are property of the workers who earn them regardless of the hourly rate an employer pays,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Office Director Wildalí De Jesús in Orlando, Florida. “Many food service industry workers rely on their legally earned tips as part of their income. The Wage and Hour Division offers employers extensive information and other tools to help them avoid compliance issues and the kind of costly violations this investigation identified.”
Background: Employers can contact the Wage and Hour Division at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE. Workers can call the division to speak confidentially and ask questions – regardless of their immigration status – in more than 200 languages. Workers and employers alike can help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android Timesheet App for free, available in Spanish and English.
