The Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill 2019 (“the Bill”) has been extended to include a legal right for workers to receive, “on a fair, transparent and equitable basis”, tips and gratuities paid by electronic means, for example by debit and credit cards.

The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Regina Doherty T.D., has amended the Bill with the approval of the Government. While the proposed Bill is silent in respect of tips given in cash, it is intended that the Bill will achieve the following:

• Ensuring that tips and gratuities cannot be used to “make up or satisfy a person’s contractual wages”;
• To place an obligation on employers to clearly display, for both workers and customers, the employer’s policy on how tips, gratuities and service charges are distributed;
• To create a legal entitlement for workers to receive tips and gratuities that are paid by customers in electronic form such as debit or credit cards; and
• To create an obligation on employers to distribute electronically gifted tips to their employees in a “fair, transparent and equitable manner”.

The Government is endeavouring to progress this Bill as quickly as possible and continues to oppose the progression of a Private Members Bill (put forward by Sinn Féin) which aims to ensure that low paid workers receive all tips due to them. The Government is of the view that the Private Members Bill is flawed and if passed, will result in several unintended negative outcomes.