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NEW ON-THE-spot fines for businesses found breaching rules surrounding tips are set to be introduced.
Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail Neale Richmond announced the new rules, which are outlined in the Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Act 2022. The Act came into effect on 1 December last year.
The Act gives employees a legal entitlement to receive tips and gratuities paid in electronic form – such as through debit, credit cards or smart phones.
It also bans employers from describing mandatory charges as “service charges” unless they are treated in the same way as tips or gratuities.
Employers who do not provide employees with their terms of employment or provide false information will receive a fine of €1,500.
Employers who fail to provide employees with a written statement on the distribution of tips and gratuities, or fail to treat a service charge as a tip, will be subject to a fine of €750.
Meanwhile, if employers do not display a ‘tips and gratuities notice’ or a ‘contract Workers Tips and Gratuities Notice’, they will be fined €500.
Inspectors from the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) will visit premises around the country to see if they are in line with the legislation on tips. If they find a breach, they can issue a fine.
The Department said that in order to encourage employers to work with the legislation, if the fine is paid, no further action will be taken.
However, if the fine is not paid, the business in question will be referred to the WRC’s internal legal affairs committee who will then decide whether to proceed with prosecution.
Legislation requires the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to review the Act after it has been in effect for one year.
Preparatory work on the review is underway within the Department, which will then inform the effectiveness of the measures and whether further measures are warranted.
Minister Richmond said that tips are an important aspect of the hospitality industry.
“Protections of tips introduced last year ensure that those who earn the tips are the ones to benefit from them,” he said.
He said that while the majority of employers are in compliance with rules and regulations surrounding the treatment of tips, the introduction of these fines provides “another layer of protection for hospitality workers and will help to stamp out bad practices where they exist”.
“We believe in putting money back into people’s pockets, this includes allowing workers to keep their hard-earned tips,” he added.
“Not only do the workers deserve to keep the tips they earn, but customers who are paying these tips deserve to know where their money is going.”
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So does this mean that “service charges” are now discretionary?
Looking forward to informing Ticketmaster that I would like these charges removed from my bill.
@Kevin Collins: Always wandered about service charges when booking stuff online such as flights or ticketmaster etc as it’s us the buyer doing all the work! Does the company now have to pay us the service charge!
@Kevin Collins: It should say if it’s discretionary or mandatory
You should put money straight into the hand of the person you want to “tip” any other way ican be, and frequently is, abused.
Any business or individual pocketing tips should be exposed on social media and boycotted, now with so much online transactions there is very little accountability for whoever is getting the online tip payments and keeping them for themselves.
Why tip at all???
Isn’t prices way to high anyway.
Just saying.
@Jimmy Wallace: True.
Why wasn’t this introduced at the sane time as the rules?
@Pato: good question – a law with no teeth is pointless. Tip culture has reached its zenith or nadir in the US and it is an extra charge on just about everything from deliveries to takeaway coffees and a real pain in the service. What it really means is that employers can significantly underpay their employees and rely on the customer to pay them instead. Not content with that some employers then decide to help themselves to this additional income stream or helpfully distribute it to underpaid ancillary staff. The whole point of a tip is that it rewards good service so if you redistribute a portion of the tip away from the waiter / waitress to the guys peeling the spuds and washing the pots you are diluting that.
They have brought that out years ago,I’m 54 and in my teens,there was no service charge on the credit cards,most people would leave u the tip at the table,but if they didn’t,so many would say I told the receptionist to add 10 or 20 onto the bill for u,but most managers kept it,them times the owners of hotels weren’t working in them,and especially after weddings,ud know the couple left money,but u never saw it,I bet they will come up with a way not pay,like the bank is charging them extra for those transactions,I always leave a few euro in the jar beside the till,coz when uve worked in restaurants r hotels for years,an extra fiver can mean so much when u finish your shift.id get my mother 10 fags,and pack of biscuits or cake in the shop walking home for the rest of em.it does mean so much
@Kathleen Peters: I never tip with my card, always cash and I try my best to give it to the person who served me. If they’ve earned it they should get it.
The time and cost spent prosecuting a case should reflect the level of fine. It does not in this case
They “can” issue a fine. Very likely they won’t on the first offence since it’s a new law
‘They’ lol …. there’ll probably be circa 3 inspectors for the whole country and they’ll only fine restaurants if they’re actually eating out themselves and not happy with something. #politicaljoke
The fines are laughable. If the tips are greater, it would be cheaper to pay the fine. Naming and shaming these establishments, would be much better than a miserly fine .
Test
If the service is crap, there will be no tip.. and it better not be compulsory
It’s would be cool to find out where the tip goes. I’ve been lucky for most of the 27 years I worked in kitchens that the tips were shared equally between all workers top to bottom as it’s a team environment., sadly my last brewHouse I ran in Dortmund was disgusting. Waiter got tips.. into pocket 70% of the time.. the very few good used to share fairly but that was few and far between.. and was encouraged by management.. and now they are in the poop because no personal will work there anymore., and the stupid thing is they wonder why
Or businesses locking fire exits
Stand by for a whole range of extra charges on your bill, I spotted a reintroduction of the ‘cover charge’ recently.
I see a local venue now imposing a ‘facilities charge’ on tickets, that is in addition to the ticket price , agents fee and booking fees.
About time too. I do tip but try not to put it on my bank card, I pay cash instead. I don’t tip if the service is bad, the staff rude, the restaurant is dirty or the meal is bad and I tell them why I’m not tipping. Fortunately most of my dining experiences have been positive and I always give positive feedback. I worked food service and so has my daughter and we found the restaurants that do best are the ones who have good managers/ owners and they reswct their staff by fair wages and distribution of tips and gratuities.
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