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

Greetings,

I work in an upscale restaurant in North Carolina and had a few questions regarding the practice of tip pooling or tip sharing and was wondering if anyone had experience with this. I've been trying to figure it out on my own using the nclabor website but the sections I'm reading aren't very specific and I can't decide if what my employer is doing is violating north carolina law or not.
http://www.nclabor.com/wh/Wage_Hour_Act_Packet.pdf
13 NCAC 12 .0303 TIPS AND TIP CREDITS

Overall it's a pretty good place and don't want to make any waves unless there is a pretty clear violation of labor law. We have a standard tip sharing arrangement. We pay 3% of tips for credit card processing (which is allowed) and then tip out another 12%. This is where my first problem is. We don't have a bartender, host, or back waits (we do all the seating, cleaning tables etc on most nights) so we're told the 12% tip out goes to the dishwasher. He doesn't do anything related to the front of the house (doesn't clean tables or reset for example) only washes dishes. We all like the the guy so don't mind him getting tipped out but some nights 12% can be $150+ and I have a REALLY hard time believing they are giving him that much money each night. Also depending on how many servers we have, it means he would be making more than the waiters. I always heard back of house employees can't be tipped out, so that's my first question. In NC can dishwashers be tipped out if they don't do anything related to the front of the house?

Second issue is regarding managers being on tip share. Each night the manager on duty gets a full portion of our tip share. So if there are 4 waiters on duty and we make $1000 total after %3 for credit card, and 12% for tip out (to the dishwasher or maybe the house?) then we each get $200 and the manager gets $200, instead of the tips being divided among the servers (these are imaginary numbers unfortunately) Granted they usually will take -one- table, but most of the time they are doing managerial duties and not waiting tables. Having them take a table is also not on nights when we are too busy and need extra help. It is done specifically so they can be on the tip pool each night. We might only have 3 tables but the manager will be sure to still take one. We have two 'managers' neither of them are on salary (that I'm aware of), my impression is that my employer thinks its legal to have them on the tip share as long as they take one table and don't get salary. This way my employer doesn't have to pay a manager salary and can instead pay them minimum wage and then have their income be supplanted by our tips. It really ruins moral and really hurts our income. Each night we have an extra person to divide our wages with and this person does the lease work but gets an equal share of tips, plus more hourly. So my second question is "can managers ever be on tip share? can they be on tip share if they wait a table(s)?" Further what makes them a 'manager'? Is it how they are paid or they actual duties and ability to hire/fire people?

There's a couple other issues with the restaurant I won't bring up now but if anyone has had the time to read this I appreciate it and sorry for the long post. Please respond if you have any experience or knowledge in this area. I've been told that their accountant makes sure everything is legal so they aren't doing anything wrong. NC is a right to work state meaning you can be fired for any reason and past employees have been fired for bringing up these and similar issues. I don't want to talk to them about it for fear or losing my job. But I'd be willing to do it if I knew that their tip share process was illegal. I'm struggling to make ends meet and knowing I'm losing almost a 4th of my income really hurts. It would be one thing if I knew the dishwasher was actually getting the money (he works hard) but I feel like they should pay him more if they think he deserves it and not take our tips. Same with the managers taking our tips, they should be compensated for the work they do but not by money left to us from customers who appreciate what we do. Thank you again,
NcCase