Tip Pool Issues
I work as a barista captain at a member's club (NYC) and I have been trying to change how we distribute our tip pool for months.
The way the pool was set up prior to the business opening was through a point system. Bartenders get 40, Servers get 40, and Baristas get 20. However due to the nature of the business we ended up not having a server team unless events were held in the space. Majority of service work is done by baristas and bartenders. The expectations of the roles are the same as baristas are expected to know how to bartend and bartenders are expected to make coffee and non alcoholic drinks.
I have been petitioning to split the point system 50/50 baristas and bartenders as we don't really have servers. However I was told by the food and bev director the FOH team must vote unanimously on this shift in the pool distribution.
Our events coordinator (her hourly is $25) is in the tip pool. She is considered the manager of the server team as well (which no longer exists). She mainly works from home, or if at the space she is on a laptop. During an event she will set up self service stations and act more like a catering manager as the events don't really require much actual serving. She is in the pool for the 40 point share and since she is a team of 1 she isn't splitting those tips at all. She refuses to allow us to split the tips in a more even way (I suggested 33/33/33 since she insists on being in the pool).
Our bar manager is also in the pool (her hourly is $27) and will regularly schedule herself alongside another bartender. She will then be on the computer doing clerical work while we do the service labor. However she still gets to be in the tip pool.
This results in incredibly high pay disparities between employees. Baristas regularly take home $450-$550 a week while working on average 24-32 hours a week whereas the bar manager and event coordinator take home around $950-$1200 a week for around 20-24 hours of labor that includes working from home and admin work.
I am wondering if the bar manager and events coordinator are even tip eligible especially due to the nature of the work they do (which is rarely interfacing with the customer) and how much they are paid an hour. Also it is my understanding that event coordinators typically don't even get tips.
Not really sure how to proceed in terms of advocating for the barista team or what kind of recourse we have if any.
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