The 2022 Payment of Wages Act followed anecdotal evidence some employers were using tips to pay staff and service overheadsJust one fine has been issued to a restaurant or hospitality business under legislation designed to regulate and safeguard staff tips and gratuities since its enactment two years ago.
“While most employers treat their staff well there were examples where some tips were simply included as part of overall business income or used to contribute to employees’ contractual base wages,” noted a recently published Department of Enterprise statutory review of the law in operation. A spokeswoman for the department said that since the introduction of the regulations the inspectorate and enforcement services division of the Workplace Relations Commission has issued one fixed payment notice in respect of a failure by a Dublin-based employer to display a tips and gratuities notice. The WRC has been tasked with overseeing the new rules.
The Restaurants Association of Ireland, noting the single recorded fine, said it was satisfied with how the legislation had been embraced by its members. “Only one breach of the legislation is extremely good,” its chief executive Adrian Cummins said. “That just shows that the legislation is working...what’s not broken you don’t have to fix.”