Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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36. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will address concerns in relation to the enforceability of Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Bill 2022 due; and his views on whether an employer who withholds tips from employees should be subject to criminal sanction. [7017/22]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Bill 2022 (No 5 of 2022) was published on 24 January 2022.

The Bill will require businesses to clearly display their policy on how tips, gratuities and mandatory service charges are distributed, and provides for similar provisions for new models of work such as platform workers who are not direct employees, but their work typically attracts tips e.g., food takeaway delivery apps.

The Bill also provides a legal entitlement for workers to receive tips and gratuities paid in electronic form (i.e., by debit or credit card or other smart type payment cards) with a provision that these tips and gratuities should be paid out to workers in a fair and transparent manner. The electronic record facilitates traceability of the tip and assists with the enforceability of the legal obligations.

An employer must also provide a statement to workers showing the amount of tips obtained in a period and the portion paid to the individual employee for that particular period.

An employer who contravenes any of these provisions will be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a class C fine, which means a fine not exceeding €2,500. This is in line with other offence provisions under employment enactments and I believe it to be proportionate in the circumstances.