Sunday, April 01, 2018
Are some restaurants still short-changing staff on tips?
I have posted a number of times since 2008 about the way that restaurant staff are treated and in particular that if we tip them after a meal, they may not always receive all or any of the money.
Just under two years ago, the government announced plans to end unfair tipping practices and ensure additional payments for service are voluntary to the consumer, and received by workers in full. However, as this Observer article says, some restaurants are still using a variety of methods to withhold tips from staff.
These include: requiring waiters to pay a percentage of the sales they have generated back to pay other staff; persuading all staff to cut their wage rate to the legal minimum and make up the difference using tips; and asking waiters to hand over some of their tips to kitchen staff in lieu of the latter receiving a wage rise.
These requirements appear to be still prevalent nearly two years after the completion of a government consultation on proposals to tackle such practices, partly prompted by revelations in the Observer and other media.
Just under two years ago, the government announced plans to end unfair tipping practices and ensure additional payments for service are voluntary to the consumer, and received by workers in full. However, as this Observer article says, some restaurants are still using a variety of methods to withhold tips from staff.
These include: requiring waiters to pay a percentage of the sales they have generated back to pay other staff; persuading all staff to cut their wage rate to the legal minimum and make up the difference using tips; and asking waiters to hand over some of their tips to kitchen staff in lieu of the latter receiving a wage rise.
These requirements appear to be still prevalent nearly two years after the completion of a government consultation on proposals to tackle such practices, partly prompted by revelations in the Observer and other media.
The article provides a number of talking points:
- In 2015, the Caribbean restaurant chain Turtle Bay was revealed by the Observer to be requiring its waiting staff to pay a levy of 3% of the sales generated at the tables they served in some circumstances. It is allegedly continuing the practice even after public and political pressure for change.
Turtle Bay’s lawyers said the restaurant’s scheme had recently been “audited and sanctioned by HMRC” and complied with industry practice. They added that the 3% levy was only payable if enough tips were earned to cover it and was capped, leaving staff with most of their tips.
Staff were only asked to cover the cost in “circumstances where the employee has been found to be negligent” and diners walked out or otherwise underpaid. They said the restaurant had never required staff to make up any shortfall for the 3% table levy in cash immediately. - Aqua, a seven-outlet Bristol-based chain, operates the same table levy system, as previously reported by the Bristol Post. One member of that chain’s staff confirmed to the Observer that it continued to operate and added: “All staff are pretty happy working here. There’s a charge but we are not the only ones that do it.” Aqua did not respond to requests for comment.
- In February, a row over tipping erupted at TGI Fridays, the American restaurant chain, following a proposal to redistribute card payment tips from waiters to kitchen staff in lieu of a wage increase.
- At the end of last year, workers at London’s Devonshire Club were asked to take a formal pay cut that would reduce their earnings to the level of the legal minimum wage. They were promised that their total pay would be topped up using service charges automatically added to customers’ bills and distributed via a system called a tronc.
