Under the Fair Labor Standards Act an employer may not keep any part of employees' tips, and no owner, manager or supervisor may share in a tip pool. A club that takes a tip credit (paying less than the full minimum wage) may only pool among staff who customarily receive tips. A club that pays everyone the full minimum wage may bring in back-of-house staff too. Tick who is in tonight and their hours; the shares are worked out by hours and add up to the pool exactly.

A manager or supervisor, for this rule, is someone whose primary duty is management, who regularly directs two or more employees, and who can hire and fire or whose say on it carries weight - a shift lead who only does the first two is not one. Some states go further: California bars owners, managers and supervisors and allows no tip credit at all; New York keeps back-of-house staff out of the pool whatever the wage. Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington allow no tip credit.