Internet rallies around employees after manager donates week’s ‘pooled tips’ to charity

An anonymous employee, who goes by u/one-spinach4421 on Reddit, was furious when she received an email from her management informing her that their "pooled tips" would no longer be distributed. In fact, the management had decided to donate it to charity. The Reddit post shared in July 2025 fueled widespread debate on social media, with people openly criticizing the company and calling its decision "illegal." The post has since been taken down.

"Is this even legal?" she asked, questioning the company's unfair decision to spend their hard-earned money. The worker, also a mother, was running low on budget and shared how she had been waiting for the money for her kid's prescriptions and doctor appointments. After reading the email, the woman immediately contacted one of her co-workers, but she didn't seem as bothered as her. "I promised my kid I’ll cook her spaghetti this weekend and get her the Lilo stuffed toy, and now that is not going to happen," the author shared. Notably, this wasn't the first time that the company had done something so questionable. "I didn’t think much about it the first time, but I just hope that they actually asked for our consent this time, because I need the money I EARNED more than ever," the woman added.

Now, the company in their email had nothing much mentioned about the charity they were donating to, not even its name. And this was something that caught everyone's attention on the internet. For instance, someone who goes by u/special_falcon408 on Reddit commented, "Tips are for the workers and only the workers. They didn’t go into any detail about why they’re donating your wages or to whom. They didn’t give a proper heads-up far enough in advance so that you would know to spend or save money accordingly. It’s treated way too casually in this email as if people don’t live on tips (assuming it’s that kind of job). There was no discussion had with employees to so much as decide which 'charity' their tip money should go to. Fishy on all fronts."

Similarly, u/bloodcoveredroses said, "Something sounds off to me. They didn’t ask the employees before this decision was made, or specify which organization they donated to. No proof or anything. Also, why does management have meetings about something this important without you guys? It just seems fishy to me. I just hope they’re not pocketing the money for themselves." u/porkforpigs shared, "Go to work, clock in, then leave and go do volunteer work. Come back and clock out. Tell them your labor was donated elsewhere for the day. See how they like it." Another person who goes by u/consistent_proof_772 wrote, "Definitely you need to report them to the state Attorney General! And when they come and interview, you guys let them all know, because most likely they made a donation to charity and their name and kept all your tips!"

Sadly, this is not one of the rare moments when a company has decided something against the benefit of its employees. A study examining data from the U.S. Department of Labor found something truly shocking when it investigated some restaurants. Reportedly, 84% of the restaurants violated the tipped wage policy and cheated their employees out of around $5.5 million in total wages.