to ask if my son is being ripped off?

[BlackBucketOfCheese]

My son has started his first weekend job (16) as a waiter in a local hotel.
Over the weekend he was given a lot of tips (over £120!!) for his hard work. He was told by his manager to put them in the tip jar, which he did assuming it would be divided up as he knows this is what happens where his friends and cousins work.

At the end of the evening he and the other new part time employees were told that actually all the tips were divided between full time staff only.

When they protested they were told that full time workers are salaried on minimum wage and stick around to clean up or lay tables, where as the part time staff were paid per hour, so the tips go to the full time staff (even those who don’t work the shift) as it is fairer.

This just seems so totally wrong!
Is my son being ripped off?
Are there any laws I can direct him to? I’ve tried looking but laws about tips all seem to be about credit card payments.

Definitely not fair! If I was your son I would keep quiet on any tips received and pocket them myself. He is being tipped for the service he is providing.

I've often thought this is info that should be on the menu.

Presuming he has a contract this should be clearly stated.

I'm in the US, so tipping is the norm here. I don't like to patronize places that split the tips. If I were your son, I wouldn't declare a dime.

I don't agree with tipping, but if you're accepting tips and have a tipping system in place, you make sure it gets distributed evenly.
YANBU

This is shit, but be wary of pocketing tips. Some places are on camera and you wouldn’t want the stress for him of being accused of “stealing”. Legally his or not, it is better to find somewhere else to work

At the end of the day no one is tipping your son in the expectation that he won’t see a penny of it.

When I tip it’s for the people preparing my food as well as the waiting staff

When I was young I worked as a waitress for a while and then as a kitchen skivvy. I didn't get any share of the tips when I was working in the kitchen but my work was so much less stressful that it was was worth it.

I used to work at a hotel restaurant for a Britannia hotel. When it came to their tipping “system”, like your son everything was put into a jar. At the end of the shift the supervisors and management would share it amongst theirselves! Usually just two of them on. No one else ever saw a penny! That included taking room service. Worst job I ever had, that one. And it was one on the busiest top performing hotels in the UK!

As a customer you are tipping the person who served you! Shouldn’t matter about anyone else. YANBU.

@36pregnant

Not unfair as such.

Excuse you?! Please explain

Your son needs to ask to
See their policy regarding tips in contract and speak with ACAS as don't think what they are doing is legal.

Isn’t it illegal? Fair pay etc? Speak to Acas.

Isn't this practice illegal now?
I've put many a note in pockets of front house staff in my time 👍

It's very unfair, but also not uncommon. Like a PP said (or maybe several PPs - I only scanned the thread) I would expect that tips were divided up depending on hours worked, and shared with kitchen staff too, but a smaller proportion to kitchen staff since they don't have to deal with customers.

My DCs both worked at the same restaurant/cafe during the summer and my eldest had also worked there for the previous 2 summer seasons. At the end of each day the owner gave DC1 an envelope with ~60% of the tips and DS2 only 30% (the owner cooked so kept 10% for themselves and a fuck-tonne of profit! )

DC1 felt bad and so evened out the distribution of tips once they'd left the premises, but if they weren't siblings DC2 would have been seriously ripped off just for being the new person.

that’s ridiculously unfair

Wow. I am now going to ask where the tips go in future. I always tip good service, but won't if it doesn't go fairly to the server.

If your son is getting £120 tips on a first shift he must be shit hot

If the cafe restaurant has an unfair shitting policy then he'd better play his own game

hand over part of the tips gifted and keep stum in future

Next time they tip, tell the customer the full story. Worked wonders for me when i was 17

That is just so unfair, your son must be really good at his job to get great tips. I know it’s not easy for young people to get jobs right now, but we’re tips discussed at the interview? If not in future it may be worth your DS asking the question. I assume he’s not the only PT server missing out. Not the sort of business I would like my DS’ working for if I am honest.

A big hotel near me does this with the optional service charge (shares it with the full timers). I interrogate my server to see if they’ll get any and if not, leave a separate tip.

LEgally there is nothing you can do. Tell your son to keep a fair percentage and then put the rest in the jar.

I have worked in loads of places that tip differently.
Never have I worked in a place where you keep your tips given to you. Everywhere split them amongst staff working on the shift, sometimes including the chef, sometimes they get collected and given out monthly or weekly etc.
This is the least fair system I have ever heard of.

I think that is poor management. There is no incentive to work hard if that’s the managers attitude. Sack the manager. Tips should be divided equally to all staff whether they are full time or part time. It’s a team effort. My son has a Saturday job in a tea shop and the tips are distributed evenly at the end of each week. My son is so chuffed when he comes home with an extra £20 plus. It gives him an incentive to work even harder.

I used to work in hospitality and we weren’t allowed to keep any tips. We were told that any tips were to be left in the til to ‘offset the balance at the end of the night incase they were down’. Thinking back the managers must have been pocketing it but it was my first student job so I didn’t question it. I just used to tell people to keep their tip as we weren’t allowed to take it. Tell your son to do the same.

Next time he’s given a tip tell him to thank the customer very much,but return it to him saying that he won’t see a penny of it as it’s only shared between full time staff.

My 16 year old is a pot wash in a very busy local diner. Tips there are split evenly between all staff on a weekly basis, regardless of hours worked.