It’s been in the news steadily over several weeks, but the Trump administration plan to revisit and likely rescind the tip pool restrictions implemented by the Obama Department of Labor (DOL) took a significant hit last week. It is now alleged that Labor Secretary Alex Acosta buried some research on the question that reflected poorly on the notion of allowing employers to expand a tip pool to include back-of-house workers. As a result, the department’s internal watchdog, the Office of the Inspector General (IG), initiated an internal investigation into the process used to reverse the regulation. The ranking democrats on both of the relevant committees, Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA) of the House Education & Workforce Committee and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) on Senate Health Education Labor & Pensions, formally asked the IG to look into the allegations.