Thomas Reinhard talks Wage Theft Lawsuits and Prevention, Importance of Estate Planning on The Hot Slice Podcast

The information provided on this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice and is for general information purposes only. Readers should contact an attorney in their jurisdiction for questions and advice regarding this topic.

Lawsuits impacting restaurants have been all over the news. Two dispute issues that we are seeing that you should be aware of are wage theft and estate and will lawsuits. We’ve tapped Thomas Reinhard, practicing attorney and co-owner of Cascadia Pizza Company in Seattle, Washington, to chat about these types of critical restaurant lawsuits in the news.

Wage theft lawsuits can come in the form of a few sources, including misappropriating employee tips and tip pooling issues. Thomas has recently addressed tips, tip pooling and service charges on PizzaToday.com in an article “What’s the difference between Restaurant Tips and Service Charges?” (https://pizzatoday.com/topics/employee-management/whats-the-difference-between-restaurant-tips-and-service-charges/). In the article, he clear classifies employee tips and who can receive tips. “A tip is a discretionary payment made by a customer independently, is calculated on their own, and is not dictated by restaurant policy,” he states.

Tip pooling is another area of contention. Thomas explained, “all tips collected are placed into a collective pool and then divided up among staff members. The pool can include anyone who is in the “chain of service”, including servers, dishwashers, bussers, cooks and other kitchen staff.” Read the article now. Though the Department of Labor allows mandatory tip pooling, not every state or municipality allows tip pooling. It’s important to check with your business attorney.

Restaurants are also making headlines for lawsuits over ownership. Estate Planning is vital for business owners. It’s important to have everything spelled out to alleviate conflicts after your death. Now is the right time to do estate planning restaurant business owners. Thomas shares how part of the process is pizzeria valuation. We’ve covered valuation extensively. TO learn more about business valuation, start with this article, “What’s My Pizzeria Worth?” (https://pizzatoday.com/topics/employee-management/valuation-whats-pizzeria-worth/).

Join us as week get into the weeds on wage theft and estate planning, two hot-button issues for toady’s restaurant owners.

Listen as we chat with Thomas in lively discussion of the two subjects.

This week’s The Hot Slice Podcast hosts are Senior Creative Director Josh Keown and Executive Editor Denise Greer.

Thanks to our sound engineer and designer Katie Wilson.

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