Does Chili's Waitstaff Really Only Take Home A Tiny Percent Of Your Tip?

Chili's restaurant is known for its savory dishes and specialty drinks that come at an affordable price. However, that frugality may come at a cost to its workers. The chain has recently come under fire for its alleged tip policy that is leaving some of its waiters in the red. TikToker @alexservestea uses her platform to expose eateries that she believes are taking advantage of its employees, and claims to have received multiple messages from Chili servers that say they have to divvy up their tips at the end of a shift. 

In the video, the TikTok user shows a screenshot from a current waiter that reveals out of the $61.01 in tips they made for the day, they had to divide it between the hosts, cooks, bartenders and food runners. The server said this left them with just $0.91 of the total. "Chili's, I'm sorry, but this is abuse to your staff," the outraged TikTok user said. "You're making your servers pay your entire staff." Followers of the post were also shocked by the claims and weighed in with their thoughts on the issue.

After watching the TikTok video one follower asked, "These are the companies that are crying nobody wants to work there?" Another angry user wrote that this was completely unacceptable and said that Chili's needs to fix this and apologize to its employees. They also explained they would not eat at the restaurant chain until they heard this problem was rectified. But other social media users were more skeptical about if this practice actually exists. Well, according to a lawsuit that was filed a few years ago, it does. 

The Morning Call reported that in 2017, a company based in Indiana that runs Chili's restaurant locations in Whitehall Township and in Pennsylvania, had to pay $250,000 to a former employee that claimed "it violated minimum wage laws by forcing them to share tips with other workers." Other Reddit users have also weighed in on the matter and confirmed they have to calculate their tip-out at the end of a shift and that it's split up between the host and bar staff. Though, not every employee seems to have an issue with how things are run. Another Reddit user said, "I like serving and even though it is a very stressful and demanding job, it is also a lot of fun most nights." No word yet on how Chili's plans to respond to the claims about their tipping practices.