tip in a coffee bar

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Note added at 2003-01-26 22:04:48 (GMT)
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Have you ever wondered what happens to your money when you tip a waiter by paying extra on your cheque or credit card?

You may have assumed that it would go to the waiter as part of a tip – that is a payment on top of what they would have received as a basic wage. However, as a result of a judgment in the European Court of Human Rights this week, it is clear that when you tip a waiter by the use of cheque or credit card payment this money becomes part of the employer’s property and could be counted towards the payment of a minimum wage.

The case I refer to is called Nerva and Others -v- United Kingdom (The Times, 10th October 2002).

Sandro Nerva is an Italian waiter who, along with three Spanish waiters, decided to challenge their employer’s practice of distributing the totality of tips earned in the form of a payment of wages. You may think that when you give an extra amount of money for quality of service, you would want that money to go directly to the pocket of the waiter.

But reference to Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights in conjunction with Article 1 of Protocol 1 means that if you want the waiter to receive the full benefit of your satisfaction, then you must pay that waiter in cash.



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Note added at 2003-01-26 22:06:38 (GMT)
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http://www.justis.com/news/jc_021011.html