Department of Labor says Heine Brothers withheld $150K in tips from workers

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The federal government said local coffee shop chain Heine Brothers wrongly withheld $150,000 from workers.

WDRB News reported in December that current and former Heine Brothers baristas were suddenly getting deposits for back pay.

Now, the Department of Labor said the company failed to pay thousands of dollars in tips to nearly 500 workers.

Heine Brothers said managers received tips when they worked as baristas, a practice that became illegal in 2020.

In July 2022, the Department of Labor notified Heine Brothers that labor and wage laws changed in 2020, saying that a "store manager with hiring and firing authority could no longer receive tips."

In a statement, Heine Brothers' co-founder and president Mike Mays said the managers "never took tips that would have otherwise gone to the baristas with whom they were working."

"These amounts were paid by Heine Bros and store managers were not required to return the tips that they earned for the espresso bar shifts that they worked," the statement read.

The coffee company paid $300,000 to settle everything, including damages.

In September, as many as 221 workers at the chain's 17 coffee shops voted to unionize. The Heine Brothers Coffee Union will go to the bargaining table with the company on Jan. 5 to "negotiate a fair contract for all Heine Brothers' workers."

It was the biggest union vote in the city in years and the most prominent example of a recent uptick in local union activity.