I think the owners are stealing from the tip-out at my job

I’m a server at a KBBQ restaurant and I supposedly tip out 5% of my dinner sales to the food runners and bussers. 2.5% goes to the food runners and 2.5% goes to the bussers that clean my tables.

I signed an agreement that states that is what I tip out, and when I first started there we used to be able to see what we tip out every night on our shift review so we’d know how much we’re tipping out. They removed this feature almost 2 years ago and my owner said it was the system, but thats a lie because one of my new coworkers said he had the same system (Toast) at his old job and it showed the tip out every night, so they intentionally turned off this feature so we couldnt see what we tip out. I can still estimate my tip out by doing the math of the sales, but it makes it hard to know exactly whats being taken out of my check. They never tell us nor show what is being taken out of our checks every two weeks, and the last time one of my coworkers asked to see how much he had taken out the owner and the managers got very visibly upset with him. There’s no transparency in whats being taken out of our checks.

When we asked how much we tip out the bussers a few weeks ago, my GM said 2.5% goes to them. This past weekend my coworker decided to ask one of the bussers if he makes tips, and this is super hard because most of our bussers speak very little English. When he asked if the bussers makes tips, he shook his head no and said “nunca” which means never. Apparently the kitchen and bussers also get paid cash under the table per week, but from what I’ve heard from other people, its a set amount each week. My coworker then asked the busser if he didnt mind showing him his paystub so he could see what he was making, not because we’re trying to see how much they make but because he wanted to see if they actually get the tip out that my managers and owner have been saying.

One of the bussers went to the owner after this encounter and the owner came up to me and the coworker, asking why we’re asking the bussers about their checks because its a very private issue. She seemed very adamant to shut us down from asking them because its a “sensitive subject” and told us we shouldnt be doing that because of their privacy. It felt like she was pressuring us to not talk about it and then said “should I be worried about this?” I’ve heard that its illegal for owners to try to dissuade coworkers from talking about their pay. I then went to the busser with a coworker that speaks Spanish for me asking why my name was involved because I wasnt part of this conversation at all and it seemed to get me in trouble with the owner when I wasn’t the one who asked them about their paystubs. She then interjected when she saw us together talking and goes “should I be here for this conversation?” The whole thing feels very fishy because they’re not being transparent about how much we tip out, they get upset whenever we ask about it to the bussers or the managers themselves, and we’ve heard so many different things among different managers and the owners. I feel like they’re lying and secretly skimming the money we’re supposed to be tipping out to the bussers and giving them a fixed pay instead.

I have no proof but would like to figure out how to go about this sort of thing because its getting tiring feeling like the managers are getting angry with us for investigating or prying into it, and their reactions to it only fuel my intuition that they’re doing shady shit with the tipout. I don’t have money for a lawyer but I’m very upset that it feels like I’m getting stolen from when I work hard to make my tips and its not even going to the people its supposed to be going to.

Location: Atlanta, Georgia