Let's start with an introduction: Jason Zink is the owner of No Idea Tavern and the operator of Don't Know Tavern.

For more than two years, Zink was also a bartender at Don't Know Tavern. All of the tips Zink and the other bartenders made went into a collective tip pool, which he said was divided evenly at the end of the night. Since Zink didn't pay himself a salary, he lived off the money he made as a bartender. He and the other bartenders made less than minimum wage, but the tips more than made up for it.

However, it's a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act for an owner or manager to collect a share of the tip pool when their employees are making less than minimum wage.

Zink found this out the hard way, when earlier this year, several of his former employees filed a lawsuit against him, seeking $250,000 in punitive damages. ...

"When you see '$250,000 in punitive damages,' it scares you," Zink said. "It literally made me sick to my stomach. It wasn't even anger. It was just scary, because it's my livelihood. ... I take it very personally."

In the 15 years Zink has bartended, he had never heard of anything like this. He can rattle off several bars in South Baltimore alone where an owner or manager bartends and shares the tip pool.

"Pooling tips is common practice," he said. "Unfortunately, now I know that everything that's common practice might not necessarily be legal."

The lawsuit was originally filed by Tara Gionfriddo, a former employee of Don't Know, as well as five other employees. Since then, three of the plantiffs have dropped off the suit, which leaves Gionfriddo and two others.

"I would bet this is a very common practice, because the truth of it is, as long as it's not policed, it will go on," said Philip Zipin, Gionfriddo's lawyer.
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