Mr. Adrian Cummins:

I thank the Chairman and committee members for inviting us to this session of the joint committee to discuss this proposed legislation on tips and gratuities and to carry out pre-legislative scrutiny on same. I am joined by my colleague, Ms Amy Sweetman, membership services and public affairs manager for the RAI. The association was founded in 1970 with the goal of representing restaurants in Ireland on issues impacting the restaurant, hospitality and tourism industry. Over the years, the association has sought to represent the views and interests of its now 2,500 plus members at a local and national level, as well as at an EU level through our membership of the EU umbrella body, the Confederation of National Associations of Hotels, Restaurants, Cafés and Similar Establishments in the European Union and European Economic Area, HOTREC.

We welcome the opportunity to comment on the Bill. We welcome the principle that tips and gratuities should not be used to make up contractual wages. This is something that we have always advocated to our members and we welcome that it will, going forward, be stated in legislation. One hospitality worker who does not get their tips is simply one too many. We must highlight that the association has daily communication with our members through various means and continuously advocates and informs members of best employer practices and of employment legislation obligations. This legislation will stamp out the bad behaviour of the few and renew public confidence in the many.

We welcome the distinction between tips, gratuities and service charges in this proposed legislation. Regarding head 6, obligation on certain employers to prominently display notice on tips, amendment No. 1, we welcome that customer, patron and employee will be made aware clearly, through display of public notice, the manner in which tips, gratuities and service charges are distributed on the premises. However, subsection 2 references "display (a) on menus or (b) at principal points of payment". We suggest, given that menus are increasingly becoming more of a legal statement rather than a list of food options available, that the requirement be similar to the requirements in food safety legislation, that is, such information being displayed in a prominent location within the establishment that is easily accessed by members of the public, perhaps with a brief indication of the location of the information on the menu. By way of example, a statement on a menu could be along the lines of: "For more information on how tips, gratuities and service charges are handled in this business, please see public notice."

Section 4A(3) states: "The Minister may make regulations to provide for the manner, means and form by which employers shall display the information referred to under subsection (2)." We ask that the Minister have regard for the fact that this notice will be required in a number of varying businesses, and as such, it is our hope that such a regulation may not be too prescriptive. Some businesses within the requirement may not have menus, but a menu board on display, for example. Head 6 refers to the obligation on employers to prominently display notice on tips and states under section 4A(1) that it "applies to employers whose company is registered with the appropriate authorities as a licensed premises or business serving food or drink". The section detailing the purpose of the above section outlines that display of a tipping policy:

would be confined to businesses in the hospitality sector where food and drink is served to paying customers. While there are other sectors where tips and gratuities are quite common, it is primarily in relation to service staff (waiters, waitresses and kitchen staff) that this issue has been raised as a problem that requires legislative intervention.

It is disappointing that the restaurant and hospitality sector has been singled out on this occasion. As outlined in the Low Pay Commission report, there is practice of tips and gratuities in many other sectors, including, but not restricted to, couriers, taxis, hairdressing, beauty therapists and croupiers. The question we would pose is: should employees and customers not also be made aware of what happens to tips in those sectors?

A number of statements have been made in the Dáil and the Seanad about the non-compliance with employment law within our sector. The WRC report of 2018 has been referenced on a number of occasions in debates on tips and gratuities and the statistic of a 67% rate of non-compliance has been referenced for our sector. We wish for committee members to take note that based on how the WRC categorises sectors, food and drink is the applicable category for our members, indicating that pubs and takeaways, including convenience store delis, service station delis and fast food outlets are all included in this category. We take issue with such statements, as while our members would fall under food and drink, the sector the RAI represents only includes full-service restaurants, hotel restaurants, gastro pubs, cafés, golf club restaurants and cookery schools. I encourage members to review the 2018 annual report of the WRC, specifically pages 41 through to 46 listing convictions. The majority, if not all of those relating to the food and drink sector, do not fall under our membership. Under a freedom of information request sent to the WRC on the issue of employees not receiving tips over the last five years, no employee has raised the issue to the commission as a complaint. I look forward to answering members' questions.