Mr. Richie Browne:

I was here for that testimony and I listened to it intently and with some alarm. It appears that the previous contributors were saying that the definition of a service charge is interpreted and decided solely by the employer. Some employers can decide to treat it like a tip or a gratuity and give it to the staff in addition to their contracted wages, some employers will decide it is a service charge to be absorbed by the business while some employers might decide to use it to subsidise the staff's wages. That is not helpful. It is very confusing and open to arbitrary interpretation by employers. We would welcome a definition and greater clarity in that respect. A suggestion was made that the employers should provide clarity either through public display of a notice or a notice on the menu stating how they treat the service charge and whether it goes to the employees. For argument's sake, an employer could say, either on a public notice or on the menu, that all the service charge goes to his or her employees, but that does not mean it goes as a tip in addition to their contracted salary as it could go to making up their contracted salary. Even though the employer would not be telling a lie, it certainly could be very misleading.