The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Regina Doherty TD confirmed that she is bringing draft Heads of Bill to Cabinet which will regulate practices around tips and gratuities.
The Heads of Bill going to Cabinet will set out how the Minister intends:
- To amend the Payment of Wages Act to ensure that tips and gratuities cannot be used to ‘make-up’ or satisfy a person’s contractual wages; and
- To provide for a requirement on employers to clearly display, for the benefit of workers and customers, their policy on how tips, gratuities and service charges are distributed.
Once Cabinet approves this approach, the Minister will proceed immediately with the drafting of the necessary legislation.
Speaking recently, the Minister said:
“In recent months, it has become clear that in a minority of establishments workers are not being treated fairly with regard to tips. I will not tolerate this on my watch and I am determined to speedily introduce measures which will improve the situation and, crucially, have a sound legal basis.
“I will always stand up for fairness and the employment rights of low paid and precarious workers – as I did with the Employment Act 2018 where I restricted zero hours contracts and introduced banded hours contracts.”
Referring to recent opposition proposals voted on in the Dáil Minister Doherty noted:
“While well-intentioned, the opposition Bill is deeply flawed and has many unintended consequences for low-paid workers. The Low Pay Commission has strongly advised against such an approach and the Workplace Relations Commission has advised that the approach envisaged in the Bill is unenforceable. I would encourage all parties to support the legislation I am introducing as the best and most effective way to assist those workers we all seek to support.”
