Restaurant Realizes Maybe It Shouldn’t Force Servers To Pay Credit Card Fees Out Of Tips

Earlier this month we told you about the Minnesota restaurant owners who decided the best way to offset increases to the state’s minimum wage was to deduct credit card transaction fees from servers’ tips. While it’s legal for businesses to do this, a poll of Consumerist readers found that 91% of you think it’s not a wise idea. Looks like the restaurant owners have finally gotten that message.

In a statement to local media yesterday, the owners of Blue Plate Restaurant Company, which operates eight restaurants in the state, announced they had stopped dinging servers’ tips to the tune of 2-3% to cover the cost of credit card transaction fees.

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act allows for these fees to be deducted from tips, so long as the employee is still earning at least the minimum wage after the deduction.

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