Legal Question in Employment Law in California

Yes, it is a legal split shift. No, an employer cannot force you to tip anyone.

Mr. Kane is half right. This is a split shift which, by California law, requires the employer to pay one extra hour of split shift pay. However, tip pooling is legal in California. But not with management. If management employees are keeping any portion of the tips, that is illegal.

My answer was too broad, but was correct as to Dishwashers.

Clarification from the Department of Industrial Relations:

According to a California court, Labor Code Section 351 allows involuntary tip pooling. Therefore, your employer can require that you share your tips with other staff that provide service in the restaurant. In this regard, it�s Division of Labor Standards Enforcement�s position that when a tip pooling arrangement if in effect, the tips are to be distributed among the employees who provide "direct table service." Such employees could conceivably include waiters and waitresses, busboys, bartenders, host/hostesses and maitre d�s. Employees who do not provide direct table service and who do not share in the tip pool include DISHWASHERS, cooks, and chefs, except in restaurants where the chefs prepare the food at the patron�s table, in which case the chef may participate in the tip pool. Additionally, tip pooling cannot be used to compensate the owner(s), manager(s), or supervisor(s) of the business, even if these individuals should provide direct table service to a patron.

http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_TipsAndGratutities.htm