Alexsys Conklin wasn’t surprised when she got a letter last month from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. It said she’s owed $1473.12.

“It was very simple,” she said. “Just ‘This is how much you’re getting. Here you go," she said. 

That is the amount of unpaid tips she has from the six months she worked at Tipsy Bean Cafe in Erie.

The state performed an audit on the business. It started after word spread online in January that employees weren’t being paid their electronic tips.

“It was a very wild 24 hours and then a wild 48 hours,” she said. 

Pennsylvania law states that employers can’t deduct electronic tips from employees. 

Conklin did get to keep cash tips. She said credit card tips contributed to her hourly wage.

“However, if card tips equaled out to more than what was needed to pay payroll, we don’t know where the rest of that money went,” she said. 

Tipsy Bean’s owner, Giselle Littrell, addressed the issue in a Facebook Live video in January.

In the video, she said she hired employees in a higher position, so they weren’t eligible for electronic tips.

“They’re all in the category of not tippable,” she said. “Technically, they shouldn’t receive cash tips, and they are receiving cash tips. So if anybody wants to tag me for being illegal, I allow them to keep their cash tips.”

She sent Erie News Now the following statement for this story: 

A similar message is taped to the cash register in the cafe. 

Conklin was laid off by Littrell a few weeks after the controversy started.

“It was very like, cut and dry,” Conkin said. “She just said, ‘I can’t afford to pay people. I have to lay you off. You can get unemployment,” she said. 

She’s happy that her former employer is facing consequences.

“That feels great. To not only have that justice but then also have the end of this whole thing,” she said. 

The Department of Labor and Industry said they can’t comment right now. They said that if an investigation finds a violation of Pennsylvania labor law, then they might post more information online.