Employee claims Easy Tiger misallocated tips to ineligible staff
An alleged tip issue from 2023 at bakery and beer garden Easy Tiger is now coming to light, according to the Austin Business Journal.
The journal reported that an employee filed a complaint last May with the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor "contending Easy Tiger didn't allocate tip money correctly to front-of-house workers, such as hosts, waitstaff and bartenders."
Instead, the employee claimed tips were given to back-of-house employees, such as managers, who are ineligible for tips.
David Norman, an Easy Tiger co-founder, told the Austin Business Journal that a mix-up with the South Lamar location's tip pool resulted in ineligible staff receiving tips. He added that front-of-house employees have received payment for the missed tips without getting back those mistakenly allocated tips from back-of-house staff.
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He stated that "the company didn't keep any of the tips for itself."
“We apologize for this mistake," Norman told the journal in an email. "Having rectified the issue at South Lamar, we are now conducting an internal review at our other locations. If we find a similar mistake, we will notify those impacted and correct the mistake."
A Labor Department representative told the Austin Business Journal that "the agency's investigation is ongoing" regarding this issue.
Easy Tiger closing it's East Austin location
According to Eater Austin, the bakery and beer garden is closing its East Austin location at 1501 E 7th St. this April. The shutter comes as a result of high costs and difficult weather conditions, Norman told Eater Austin.
The closure is not Easy Tiger's first, as its Cedar Park Whole Foods location closed in 2020 along with its original spot downtown. The restaurant also closed its location inside Fareground, a food hall on Congress Avenue, in 2018.
Easy Tiger's South Lamar and The Linc locations will remain open, and Norman told Eater Austin that the chain "is looking to relocate" East Austin staff to these storefronts.