Do you ever wonder what really happens to a server’s tip?

Often, tips are placed in a pool and allocated proportionately to each staff member at end of the shift.

In larger restaurants, servers' total sales are tracked electronically. The shop owes the server credit card tips, while the server owes the house the total of what customers paid in cash, plus a percentage ranging from 3 to 5% to split with backroom staff.

At other places, servers kick in a generally agreed upon portion of their tips to share among the kitchen, bar, bus and shosts staff – and, often, salaried floor managers.

With the value of a pension representing the largest store of wealth for many families, Ontario’s new rules for dividing pension assets when marriages fail are welcome news.

Despite separation agreements or court orders, the current rules don’t allow money to be transferred to the ex-spouse unless the member has already left the plan, through termination, death or retirement.

Now, once the rules kick in, the value of the pension can be settled immediately even though the plan member is still working.

Attention HR:  Before you start spending money on leadership training for managers, find out how they really feel about their employees.

According to a recent University of California study, much of the company's success depends on how managers view their subordinates.

In what he describes as the first study to examine leaders' conceptions of followers, psychologist Thomas Sy found that "if managers view followers positively — that they are good citizens, industrious, enthusiastic — they will treat their employees positively".

"If they think of their employees negatively — that they are conforming, insubordinate and incompetent — they will treat them that way. Manager beliefs about employees impact organizational outcomes," he maintains.  

Compared to most Canadians, Ontario’s teachers enjoy one of the richest pension plans in the country. Longtime teachers, who now contribute an average of 11% of salary towards their pension, can expect to receive about two thirds of what they were making over their last few years of work once they leave the classroom.

But, according to a group of disgruntled retired teachers, along with their widows and widowers, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan isn’t playing fair when it comes to determining how much of this money the spouses of dead plan members should receive.

At issue is OTPP's practice of denying full survivor pensions to those who marry after they retire. Under the current rules, spouses who come along after the plan member retires are entitled to only 10 years of benefits.

If pensioners who marry after retirement want to provide a longer-lasting benefit, they must take a pension cut to obtain a survivors pension for their spouse. The reduced pension is permanent, even if the pensioner outlives their late-in-life spouse. 

Determined to get that project done on time, even though you feel like crap? Worried about staying home lest your boss think that you're not totally committed to your job? Or maybe you don't have any paid sick days to begin with?

If that sounds familiar, you're probably guilty of "presenteeism" — the insidious act of showing up at work even though you should be at home getting over whatever it is that ails you.

Presenteeism isn’t as obvious to spot as absenteeism, because it’s harder to tell how much an illness affects a person's performance than to know how often someone simply doesn’t  show up for work.

One American study suggested that presenteeism costs the U.S economy up to $150 billion a year, thanks to workers who perform well below their usual levels all the while passing on their ailments to their co-workers.

The question of how much – and how – to talk to kids about family finances often stymies even the most dedicated parents.

While kids don’t necessarily need to know exactly how much money you make, they do need to know how the world works. Children, as they grow, need to learn what money means, how much it costs to buy things, and how the money to buy things is earned.

But what if they seem to be trying to figure out who’s the primary breadwinner?

It’s a tricky question, and as with most such money queries, you should probably begin by trying to figure out why the child is asking. Why would it matter which parent makes more money?

While you may not be sick of royal wedding coverage just yet … okay, you’re probably sick of royal wedding coverage.

But what can we say? Whether we dig the romance or not, Prince William and Kate Middleton’s union may just be the most talked-about event of this decade when the 2010s are through.

And while there are plenty of business links to the wedding – the U.K. was granted an extra three-day weekend for the ceremony, for instance, a move that may cost the British economy a reported $9.9 million in lost productivity – here’s one that hits closer to home: this Friday, Kate Middleton may grind your office to a halt.

A continuing shift in pension plan funding is driving more employers to rethink their pension plan structures, forcing employees to shoulder more risk in the process.

Contract work, career changes and a longer, more active retirement have changed what Canadians need from a pension. And, increasingly, they’re on their own when it comes to funding their days after work.

Faced with having to pump more money into plans or decrease the benefits, companies of all sizes are increasingly moving workers away from guaranteed defined benefit (DB) pension plans into open-ended defined contribution (DC) plans.

51 per cent of Canadian companies have already converted to DC plans for current employees or new hires, up from 42 per cent in 2008, according to a recent review by Towers Watson. And a further 9 per cent plan to convert this year.

The number of EI recipients has fallen sharply over the past year, especially for men. In the span of a year, the number of Canadian men receiving EI benefits dropped by 13.4 per cent, while the number of women decreased by just 6.9 per cent.

But with tax season on hand, some of these folks may be surprised to discover that they owe taxes on those EI benefits, a particular headache for those who were lucky enough to find a decent job sometime late last year. 

Here’s what to watch out for as the deadline approaches.

Inmates at Mountain Institution in Agassiz are about to form the first prisoner labour union in Canada. 

Once they have enough members signed up, organizers will take their proposal to the Labour Board of Canada in a bid to be certified.

The group’s lawyer Natalie Dunbar stressed that the inmates are not trying to create another prisoners' rights group, such as those that exist in the United States, but instead want a body to address prisoners' labour union issues. The average daily pay for inmates, for instance, is something like $15 a day and workplace accidents are not uncommon.