Are waitstaff allowed to answer truthfully if they receive the service charge on bill?
Posted by UnRegularConfidence3@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 15 comments
I've noticed quite a few restaurants now are adding discretionary service charges to bills. We normally would leave a small cash tip for good service, but don't bother if they add it to the bill. I have asked for it to be removed a few times when service was just horrible.
We have been asking who gets the service charge before we pay, and normally are told it is "split between all of us". I am just curious if they are allowed to say it goes to the owners or whatever, like " I never see any of that money!". I just read a story about some posh private club in London that was taking all the service charge money to pay bonuses to management and not giving it to the service staff, which is pretty shitty.
Violet351@reddit
It’s a legal requirement and the staff wouldn’t work there if they were breaking the law
dinkidoo7693@reddit
From personal experiences, It all depends on the management at the restaurant, some insist on sharing cash tips with all the staff on shift, some collect the cash tips and share them out on payday.
What I’ve found with card tips, they will go to whichever servers name is on the bill/receipt, so if Claire served you but danny brought you the bill danny would get the tip.
Also the card tips get taxed along with the wages.
So if you card tipped Claire a fiver coz she was wonderful, she will probably only get £3.50 of it.
Worldly_Wafer_6635@reddit
In the UK an employee must give 100% of the service charge to the workers (as of Oct 2024)
All places handled how they divide it between workers differently, though.
But it cannot go to the business.
ReallyIntriguing@reddit
Who's making sure that happens
Worldly_Wafer_6635@reddit
Employment tribunal.
LittleSadRufus@reddit
And just to clarify, this applies to private members clubs as much as anywhere else
Raiken201@reddit
It gets split between the staff.
We split it based on who was working that day and how many hours they logged, it then gets paid 4 weekly on your PAYE as a separate line (like bonus, or holiday pay).
You pay income tax on it, but AFAIK it isn't subject to NI as long as they are voluntary.
seklas1@reddit
When I worked as a waiter, I rarely ever saw anything unless it was a cash tip, because it was split between employees. But because I did part-time on a 0 hour contract and worked only 2 days a week, I basically was entitled to none of it and any tips went to full-time staff, so that’s a team leader, manager, chef etc. it also got taxed too. So getting even £1 in my payslip was a rarity. Cash tips went to the person who was serving etc, so if something was leftover, we were allowed to pocket it.
metal_maxine@reddit
I know everyone is saying about services charges legally must be distributed to staff, but I've heard of some (probably chains?) that skim off an "administration fee" for doing a little bit of maths. I hope it got fixed in the October 2024 update people have mentioned.
Prudent-Pressure2146@reddit
I had a member of bar staff tell me not to bother when I said ‘take one for you too’ recently. I dunno if he was ‘allowed’ to our just breaking ranks tbf
WhalingSmithers00@reddit
One for yourself is a bit of a pain these days. It used to mean take 20p because that would cover a half and some people mean it that way. If you're on the bar you have try and predict how much they want you to take.
HashDefTrueFalse@reddit
Legally speaking they should now be going to employees since the EA 1996 was amended a few years ago (IIRC). What staff are/aren't allowed to say to customers about the business is down to internal policy. I wouldn't say that an employer could sensibly rely on employees lying for them in the scenario where their employer is breaching their employment rights by withholding money owed to them, so I'd say you can usually believe them when they tell you where it goes.
jetjitters@reddit
I mean given it's illegal for employers to take the service charge and it has to be passed on to the staff, of course they're allowed to answer truthfully but if they have the sort of boss who flagrantly breaks the law to take it for themselves, its probably not out of the realms of possibility they'd also sack their staff for pointing it out, so I doubt you'd get many admitting to it
Ok-Albatross-1508@reddit
As of October 2024 services charges legally have to be distributed to staff, not kept by the owners
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