Legality of Holding a Restaurant Waiter Responsible for Non-Paying Guests

My question involves employment and labor law for the state of: Tennessee

This has never happened to me personally, well I have been shorted before, but I have known of some people who had their table walk out before paying (which is stealing) and my boss making them pay to cover the cost of the bill which usually leaves them with nothing for the whole night even though the restaurant could easily cover it (especially since in TN server wage is $2.13 an hour). Is there any labor law or other law that would technically prohibit this? If you work at a store and someone robs the cash register you don't have to pay to cover it. Also, who would I go about reporting these incidents to (This is a nationwide restaurant but we are a franchise of it)?

This is illegal under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Contact the US Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division.

If it's a deduction from pay OR you pay it out of pocket AND the amount takes you below minimum wage or cuts into your overtime, then that is a violation of the FLSA, which requires that minimum wage and overtime pay be received "free and clear".
See Other Items here:
http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs16.pdf

Plus:

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UNAUTHORIZED DEDUCTIONS FROM PAYCHECK
Under Tennessee law deductions can only be taken out of pay if the employee has authorized it by a written statement.

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http://www.tn.gov/labor-wfd/faq_laws.html#paydeductions

Ok but I want to make sure I understand this, is it only a violation if and only if this action by a manager makes an employees wages fall below minimum wage? Or is is illegal no matter what (unless the person was stealing of course)?

Also, I was wondering about the definition of tips compensation equaling minimum wage. Is it considered the average over the entire pay period? Or over the shift. Let me explain

Suppose worked a Friday night, I might make $70 in tips over 5 hours, therefore ($2.13 * 5) = $10.65 + $70 = $80.65/5 = $16.13 average per hour

Now suppose I work a completely dead Monday night, I make $15 in tips over 5 hours (it does happen); therefore ($2.13*5)=$10.65 + $15 = $26.65/5 = $5.13 average per hour which is BELOW minimum wage.

So is that how the department of labor views it? Or is it the average over the entire pay period:

Now suppose after working those 2 shifts, that is all I work for the entire pay period. When my paycheck comes around, I have worked an entire 10 hours and made a total of $80.65 + $26.65 = $107.30 / 10 = $10.73 per hour average over the entire pay period. So does that mean I have received minimum wage, even though I did not during the entire pay period itself.

Which way is this viewed?

It's the average for each workweek, standing alone.

Is the amount being deducted from your paycheck, or are they making you pay it out of your tips?

When this happens it is subtracted from the tips. Basically, we arry around all the cash we have collected for the restaurant, and whatever we owe the restaurant back (the price of the people's food in cash) we pay them - credit card tips and whatever is left is ours to keep.

NICE!

Great set up for them!
is almost like youre a subcontractor :D

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Quoting LawResearcherMissy

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This is illegal under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Contact the US Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division.

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do you have something a little more specific than just the general main page?

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Quoting ltkenbo

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Is there any labor law or other law that would technically prohibit this? If you work at a store and someone robs the cash register you don't have to pay to cover it.

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Your last thought is it. What happens is THEFT, and liability can NOT be imputed to an employee, period.

You are as an example, paid $8.00/hr, this a contract wage. Theft can not be imputed to you as to breach the contract wage, pure and simple.

My dad was a waiter, and restaurant manager.

He tells me at some places, that waiters are held responsible for making sure every table paid. If some customer left without paying, if it's a constant problem, the waiter will be fired, for not doing his job, but can keep his job if he made up for it. In other words, he can keep his minimum wage, but would have to go find another job.

He tells me that they are tough on this because often the customer actually paid, but to the waiter directly, and the waiter then pockets the money when no one is looking. And if the customer left, the manager is alert enough, confronts the waiter, the waiter then claims the customer didn't pay.

More common though, is waiters "buying" beer for say a table of five. After each customer orders his first beer, he'll buy each the second, and the third. It's bought unbeknownst to his bosses, however, and he expects to be tipped handsomely for these extra freebies.

In this latter case, if he in fact collected a larger tip, I don't know if he's found out, is told to make up for it, he'll turn around and claim a minimum wage issue, and then demand he has every right to keep all his tips.

I had a waiter do this to me once, unbeknownst to me. I ordered a second beer, but when he bought the bill, he claims that he "bought" me the second beer, and winked. I was pretty sure his bosses knows nothing about it, and I tipped him a bit extra, about two bucks. The following time I was there, I told him he didn't have to buy me one.

That made me uncomfortable, I thought of not going back to that restaurant, but it turned out he didn't work there soon after.

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Retention of Tips: The law forbids any arrangement between the employer and the tipped employee whereby any part of the tip received becomes the property of the employer. A tip is the sole property of the tipped employee.

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http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs15.htm