The issue has been getting attention recently and is the subject of The Case for Tipping and Unrestricted Tip-Pooling by law profs Samuel Estreicher and Jonathan Remy Nash. Here is the abstract:
Going against the well-established tipping norm in the United States, a growing number of restaurant owners are moving to ban tipping, and instead raise prices, in their restaurants. They argue that existing law precludes them from sharing tips with “back-of-the-house” employees (like chefs and dishwashers), and thus makes it hard to compensate those employees fairly. We argue that the movement against tipping is ill-advised. Tipping is a valuable social institution that allows customers to monitor service where management cannot. The better answer is to remove legal restrictions on tip-pooling. Pooling tips among a broad swath of employees (other than management-level employees) is in keeping with the cooperative effort that underlies the provision of service in settings like restaurants.
Read Scott's interesting post on the topic from last October.
