Minnesota-based coffee company Caribou Coffee has been named as a defendant in a lawsuit which alleges that the company illegally skimmed employee tips by implementing a policy of tip combining. The lawsuit is highly similar to that which was filed against Starbucks several months ago, which essentially alleged the same thing. Caribou employees were required to combine their tips at the end of each shift, according to the complaint. Shift supervisors and store managers who took shares from the tips were in direct violation of state law, the lawsuit said.
See "Caribou Coffee ground down employee tips, lawsuit claims", Emma L. Carew, Minneapolis Star Tribune, July 17, 2008