Restaurant chain Miller & Carter has strongly refuted reports that it has its waiting staff are out of pocket because some of their tips are going to kitchen and other back-of-house workers.
According to The Guardian, policies introduced at some restaurants have put workers at risk of earning below the national minimum wage. The Unite union has claimed that some waiting staff now receive no tips at all, or are even held in a “tip deficit”, where they owe money to be paid from future tips.
Miller & Carter has refuted the claims, which it says are potentially defamatory.
Unite has claimed that waiting staff at some outlets are asked to contribute a percentage of sales “to subsidise the low wages of back-of-house workers”. Some restaurants have capped this at between £20 and £40 per day, The Guardian reported, but Unite has claimed that this can still be more than what has been earned in card tips, which cannot be guaranteed, meaning some waiting staff are taking home less than the wages they are owed.
Tipping and hospitality
Staff at each restaurant voted on how they wished to share out cash and card tips, as well as the service charge levied on bills covering larger parties, but The Guardian suggested that employees were offered a limited number of options to vote on.
One worker told the newspaper that they had been asked to choose between a percentage of card tips or 1.5% of sales, capped at £30 a day.
Until this month many restaurants asked waiters to pay a fixed fee to cover tip-sharing based on the day and time of their shift, while some restaurants shared the percentage of the service charge collected, it was reported.
One staff member told The Guardian: “On a Monday lunch you can earn zero [in tips and service charge] and be in debt to the company.”
Bryan Simpson, lead organiser for hospitality workers at Unite, said: “This is one of the worst tips policies we’ve ever come across because it forces low-paid workers to find tips that can never be guaranteed. Our members are already losing hundreds in lost income.
“There is a strongly held fear among our members that they will be brought below the minimum wage by this system. The policy has nothing to do with fairness for staff, it is about the company pitting worker against worker out of greed.
“Put simply, this is an undemocratic and unworkable policy, which is designed to force low-paid waiters to make up for the failure of the company to pay their kitchen, bar and junior management enough.”
‘Our tipping policy is fair’
A spokesperson for Miller & Carter said: “We are aware that third party organisations have been publicly critical and making inaccurate and potentially defamatory claims around our tipping practices. We are more than happy to be transparent about our approach which we believe is democratic, fair and ensures 100% of all tips given by guests are retained by frontline team members.
“Tips received by our team members are in addition to our core pay and benefits package which is always paid at, or above, national minimum wage. There has been no change to the approach that has been taken for years in that it is team members who democratically agree each year how tips should be distributed at Miller & Carter. To suggest otherwise is fundamentally untrue.”
The spokesperson said the team at each restaurant is given the chance to decide that team’s own tip distribution policy via a democratic process.
“At this time, there are more than 70 variations across the estate as to how tips are distributed. No tipping policy in any venue should ever result in team members having to contribute from their own pocket. General managers are not involved in the vote and/or final decisions and do not receive the benefits of tips,” the spokesperson said.
“Team members have not, and will never be, asked to contribute towards tips from their own remuneration and contrary to some claims, team members never have their wages reduced in lieu of the tips they have received and will never be asked to make up any perceived shortfall in tips that are to be distributed to other team members.”
The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 introduces a requirement for employers to give all tips, gratuities and service charges to workers without any deductions. It also obliges employers to distribute tips fairly between workers. The measures are expected to come into force in 2024, following a consultation and secondary legislation.
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