California Labor Guidance
Free plain-English summaries of opinion letters, administrative policies, and interpretive notices from California's labor agency, with the current status and the official source on every page.
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Tip pool policy: lawfulness of mandatory tip pooling and participation criteria
A casino asked whether its mandatory tip pool policy, requiring an employee who receives a tip to contribute 15% into a pool distributed to other employees in the service chain, complies with Labor Co…
Service charge in lieu of tip
An attorney for a private club asked whether an automatic 18% service charge added to members' bills — kept by the club, not distributed to staff — could be considered a gratuity under Labor Code sect…
Tip pooling: parameters of a lawful arrangement
A law firm asked DLSE for the rules governing employer-mandated tip pooling in restaurants. Citing Leighton v. Old Heidelberg, DLSE confirmed employers may require tips to be pooled and shared among e…
How to calculate overtime premium on mandatory banquet service charges paid as a bonus
A law firm asked DLSE to explain how to calculate overtime premium pay on the share of mandatory banquet service charges a restaurant distributes to workers on top of their regular hourly or salaried …
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These are official interpretive documents from California's labor agency: opinion letters answering questions from employers and workers, administrative policies, and interpretive notices. They show how the agency applies wage-and-hour and workplace law to real situations, but they are guidance, not statutes or court decisions, and the agency can supersede or withdraw them. Every page above shows the document's current status, when that status was last verified, and a link to the official source.