Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste is very welcome to the Seanad. This is very important legislation that will bring about a fairer system. I welcome the fact it is employee led, there is transparency at the heart of it, and there has to be consultation with employees in any working environment with regard to the policy that will be adopted by the employer.

The Bill is certainly very much welcome. It gives workers legal protection over tips. This means the tips received cannot be counted towards an employee's basic pay and the tips must be additional and separate. While the vast majority of employers are very fair when it comes to dealing with tips, unfortunately, there is always the minority where there have been problems. Some of those have featured in the media in the past for not having fair policies. People spoke with their feet in terms of what they thought of that.

Providing clarity on the meaning of tips, gratuities and service charges is very important, as is obliging employers to display prominently their policy on the distribution of cash and card tips. It can lead to confusion, particularly when people are paying by card, as to whether the tip can be included. It is important to oblige employers to distribute in a fair, equitable, and in a transparent manner the tips that are received in electronic form, either through smartphones or cards.

A key provision of the new law will give employees a legal entitlement to receive tips and gratuities in a fair, transparent and equitable manner. It also must be context-specific and take into account matters such as staff hours, value of sales income or revenue generated, and the worker's role in service delivery. It is fair the employer can take into account certain factors when deciding how to distribute tips, including seniority or experience of employees, the number of hours worked and so on. Key to all of this is the fact the employees must be consulted on the policy that is going to be introduced before it is signed off.

How cash tips are distributed will be required to be included, along with the management of the tips and gratuities, in the employer's publicly displayed policy. It is very important that all tips must be distributed fairly and in a transparent way. This is key and central to this Bill. I certainly welcome that.