Waitress Tips

[stevec000]

my niece works as a waitress in a private run resturaunt , and the owners have just bought a bar next door and are in the process of doing it up..all the waiters put there tips into one jar to be divided equally at the end off the month ,but the owners took it to help with the renovation off the pub ,is the right can they do this..

[dizmouk2009]

By law they can do it, morally it is wrong.

[joggerjayne]

No, of course they can't.

Tips, or gratuities, are given by customers to waiting staff, and belong to the waiting staff.

There may be an agreement that tips are pooled and shared, but that does not allow the owner to take them for himself.

[dizmouk2009]

It sounds pretty sad that the owner needs to take tips from his/her waitressing staff.

[joko]

id just tell her to keep her own tips to herself in future.

if they all do it they wont have any at the end of thr month

[dizmouk2009]

joggerjane; you're wrong. I've been working in the pub trade for years. The only way they are entitled are if the tips are given directly to staff. A tip jar means nothing. The manager/owner decides where them tips are to be placed. This is a moral issue nothing more, nothing less.

[stevec000]

so if she puts her tips straight in to her pocket they cant touch them

[joggerjayne]

Aren't they being given directly to the staff?

If the staff have to put them in a jar, doesn't that mean they have been given to the waitress first?

[Sycamore3House]

She should keep her own tips as she has worked for them. In restaurants I have run the waiting team have always given a percentage of their tips to be pooled for Back of House staff. Usually 10%.

[dizmouk2009]

stevec000: Take this advice from someone who has been there and got several t-shirts, hats and bags...

She can't put money directly in her pocket if she has been told by her boss that she has to put it in a jar. If she does she risks being sacked.

If there is nothing in her contract to suggest she gets a percentage of the tips she collects then she doesn't get them.

I used to be a bar manager in a restaurant. People use to go to the food till and say "he's a cracking bar man, he'res £5". The money was put into a tip jar. Guess what that tip jar was labelled 'Girls tips'. I didn't get a penny.

[dizmouk2009]

joggerjane: as soon as she puts them tips in the jar they don't belong to her anymore. If she pockets the money then she isn't doing what her boss has asked.

[dizmouk2009]

Also, if there is a jar then how can the waitresses prove that all that money from the jar is from their tips. Like I said when I used to manage a bar in a restaurant people use to put money into the jar for my service. His niece doesn't have a leg to stand on but morally it's bloody wrong!

[dizmouk2009]

Although it could be a jar that is out of customers way. Still the same thing though. Unless the contract states that tips will be divided etc etc then you haven't got a leg to stand on.

[pixie373]

I think they should all be allowed to keep their own tips, anyway. I tip for good service, which is down to the individual waiter/waitress.

[joggerjayne]

A contract may say that tips will be divided.

I wonder how many say that tips may be divided, or may be kept by the owner?

[dizmouk2009]

Usually JJ it is a verbal contract which cannot be proven unless all the staff get together and rebel.

[stevec000]

I think it is wrong, she is only 17 and works till the early hours and they wont even pay for her taxi home which is also wrong

[dizmouk2009]

If I was her I'd just pocket the tips but make sure she tells the people who are tipping her that she loses out on tips. That way if the boss witnesses her putting money in her pocket the customer can stand up for her (I've also seen this being done and it works).

[joggerjayne]

Good solution x

[Old_Geezer]

Were there any justice waiting staff would be paid adequately and not have to expect or accept additional bribes for service. Most jobs don't work by tipping those who do the work. It's a strange society in many ways.

[Eve]

I agree she needs to be careful not to go against her contract or be considered to be doing something wrong and face disciplinary action, possibly dismissal. It is very easy to dismiss someone who hasn't been there very long.

CCTV could catch her out if there is any (which she knows about or not) or other staff could be disgruntled she is keeping tips against the rules and tip off bosses or if more staff start keeping it then it is likely to show in the reduction in tips.