When should a tipped employee no longer be treated as a tipped employee?  Plaintiffs’ lawyers argue that restaurants cannot utilize the tip credit, or pay tipped employees a sub-minimum wage, if tipped employees perform any “non-tipped” duties, such as washing dishes or taking out the trash.  Earlier this week, a District Court in the Northern District of Indiana rejected this argument.  (See here)  Specifically, the court dismissed a former server’s claim that the FLSA was violated by restaurants paying servers, bartenders, and hosts a sub-minimum wage while they performed non-tipped duties.  This decision could be far reaching because restaurants across the country are being hit with similar class or collective action lawsuits.