Why is NI behind rest of UK when it comes to tipping?

"Tips are essential on top of the wages", says Conan Lynch

When leaving a tip at a bar, restaurant, or coffee shop, would you assume that your money goes entirely to your server?

From the start of this month, workers in the hospitality sector in Great Britain gained legal protection to receive 100% of tips paid by customers in restaurants, cafes, hotels, or other service industries.

However, this newly-imposed law does not apply to Northern Ireland, as employment law is a devolved issue.

Conan Lynch, who works in a bar in Belfast, said his current employer divided out tips equally among staff.

But this is not always the case in other businesses.

"I’ve worked in places where they absolutely rinse you for your tips, and I’ve struggled heavily because of that,” the 19-year-old said.

"If the tills were down at the end of the night, they would use the tips to balance the tills, even places where the managers have lifted our tips out of the tip jar, tips that we’ve worked hard for.”

He said tips were vital on top of a minimum-wage job.

"My wages will take care of rent and things like that, whereas tips can take care of the day-to-day stuff as well as my taxi home, disposable income. That’s what the tips are for.”

Justyna, who works in a bar in Dunadry, County Antrim, said tips were indeed a "top-up to wages".

"It’s very important because waiters and waitresses are working hard, hoping they can get some form of tip. It makes a difference," she said.

“It's an absolute disgrace that managers can take tips, customers that are leaving tips are leaving them for the staff for good service."

Taxi ride or walk home?

Neil Moore from Unite the Union highlighted the disparity faced by Northern Ireland's workers compared to their UK counterparts.

He said Stormont’s "failure to implement fair tips legislation at the same time as Westminster" was "intolerable".

“Unite has received near daily reports from workers sick and tired of having their tips deducted," he said.

“We’ve received reports of bosses fining workers for seemingly minor issues at work and workers having their whole night’s tips taken from them to pay for a customer who left without paying their bill."

Prior to his current post as a union representative, Mr Moore worked in hospitality for over a decade.

He said he knew first-hand the challenges of relying on tips.

“Young women, in particular, often describe to us how earning tips can make the difference between an unsafe walk home alone in the early hours or being able to afford a taxi," he said.

Hospitality Ulster provides employers with guidance on tips to ensure the system is fair.

In the Hospitality Employer's Charter, Hospitality Ulster states: "Tips received must be passed on to the appropriate staff, taking account of any collective staff agreements and taxes the employer is legally required to deduct."

Colin Neil from the organisation previously told BBC News NI that "generally, employers keeping tips is not an issue here".

Liam believes "the law is currently very behind"

Liam, who works in a coffee shop in the centre of Belfast, said the law in Northern Ireland lagged behind the rest of the UK.

He said in a previous role in a bar the management "would hold our tips for months and then we just would never get them".

"They’d say, ‘we’re just paying back any stock we’ve lost' and we never saw any of it," he said.

However, Alex, a bar manager in Belfast, said tips in his establishment were dished out evenly.

The idea that management had any access to tips at all was "ridiculous", he said.

"Our managers here don't work bar service, so why should we have access to tips that are rewarded specifically for that exact service?"

However, he said tips were "ever shrinking" due to fewer people using cash.

"Hospitality is a hard job for entry-level employees, the pay is minimum wage, and the customer is rewarding employees on a personal level, it's Scrooge-esque to take away tips from employees that rely on them more than a manger would," he said.

Plans to introduce legislation

Draft legislation is currently being discussed in Stormont.

On 1 October, Democratic Unionist Party assembly member Stephen Dunne asked Economy Minister Conor Murphy whether his department had any plans to introduce legal protections for hospitality workers’ tips.

Murphy said: “My ‘Good Jobs’ Employment Rights Bill consultation invited views on a range of proposals to strengthen our employment rights framework to help deliver the Good Jobs agenda."

"This included proposals to introduce new legislation to ensure that tips left to workers are passed on to them in full. The consultation closed on 30 September, and my department will now analyse the responses to inform next steps.”