518-373-4111
You may have heard about the recent lawsuit against a popular local restaurant, in which tipped employees have claimed they were made to perform non-tipped job duties. This demonstrates the common problems restaurants may face regarding confusion about wage reporting and how the laws regulate specific job functions.
Businesses in this industry can safeguard their operation and run more efficiently by observing the following best business practices for restaurants.
- Job descriptions – Make sure your employee handbook contains clearly defined roles and duties. This way you control your employees’ behavior and ensure they are performing the tasks for which they are being paid, eliminating confusion as to who should be paid for what.
- Consider Pay-as-You-Go Workers’ Comp – This type of policy eliminates the same monthly workers’ comp payment and replaces it with smaller, incremental payments (usually weekly or bi-weekly). It minimizes year end premium adjustments and breaks out the hours that are not subject to workers’ comp ratings, saving you money and makes it easy to manage your cash flow.
- Ensure Compliance – Having multiple rates of pay based on job duties and having separate overtime rates for tipped and non-tipped employees ensures everyone is paid accurately.
- Tracking – Use a robust Time and Attendance system that matches an employee to their job duty. By automating the rate of pay within specific job departments, you ensure that employee is paid correctly for each duty they perform, even if they change roles mid-shift.
- Scheduling – You can control labor expenses with an automated scheduling solution that allows you to get real-time notifications via email and texting, change schedules on-the-fly, and eliminate messy, hand-written schedules that change quickly, letting you easily identify gaps in coverage.
GTM has the solutions your clients need, including specific solutions for the restaurant industry. Please contact us at (518) 373-4111 to learn more.
