Unfortunately, in the USA, with tips being done by way of credit cards, the employers are sitting too close to the money printer and are too often tempted to start stealing from their employees.
Employees who do have this happen are often not able to do anything about it, due to litigation costs, and by law you can only go back 12 months when litigating for back pay.
We need to normalize cash tips, BTC and ⚡ tips or at bare minimum, giving directly thru other apps like CashApp and Venmo....
Especially in the states where they allow employers to pay waiters $2.13/hr (Utah).