The Ontario government just passed
a law to provide protection for servers and other employees
who commonly receive tips. Under Bill 12, Protecting
Employees' Tips Act, an employer is prohibited from
withholding, making deductions from or causing an employee to
return his or her tips or other gratuities.
The definition of "tips and
other gratuities" includes voluntary payments made directly or
indirectly to an employee where it is reasonable to infer that the
customer intended that the payment would be kept by the employee or
shared with other employees. It also includes payments of a service
charge or similar charge where it is reasonable to infer that the
customer intended or assumed the payment would be redistributed to
an employee or employees. This would include, for instance, a
mandatory gratuity that a restaurant may impose on large groups.
Excluded from the definition are charges as may be prescribed
relating to method of payment used, or a prescribed portion
