Glowbal Restaurant Group owner and former server plan legal action over tips
During CBC’s The National on April 2, reporter Kathy Tomlinson investigated how tips are distributed at Glowbal Group restaurants after a former employee filed a complaint with B.C.’s Employment Standards Branch claiming she was required to hand over tips to “the house” after shifts. Now, Glowbal Restaurant Group owner Emad Yacoub has fired back, stating that he will take legal action.
“I have been left with no option but to take legal action against the CBC and Ms. Tomlinson to redeem my reputation and that of my business," Yacoub stated in a news release April 3. "It is curious and unfortunate that Ms. Tomlinson and the CBC chose to air a story based on the false accusations of former employees. It is equally baffling as to why Ms. Tomlinson chose to focus on The Glowbal Group when the practice of pooling gratuities is an accepted standard in the hospitality sector in Canada."
The former Glowbal Group employee, Charlotte Zesati, who worked at Glowbal’s steakhouse Black + Blue (1032 Alberni Street) for a week and a half in November 2011, told the Straight during a phone interview on April 3 that she is in the process of obtaining a lawyer and is hoping to go after a class-action lawsuit.
“I can’t disclose who the lawyer is at this time, but we’re looking at hopefully trying to get more voices out from people who worked for this man because you know, I understand that people are scared,” Zesati, who is a single mother, said. “I wasn’t there long enough to get to know the waiters, but I do believe that there’s got to be someone there that will come out.”
Zesati, who moved from California to Vancouver prior to working at Black + Blue, considers herself a career server.
“I’ve been in this industry for a long time. I’ve been a GM. I’ve been a California realtor. I work really hard to make the money that I make, and it’s taken me a long time, where I can consistently sell a certain amount and maintain a very high tip out because I do care for people,” she said.
While Zesati is currently unemployed, she says that she has had job interviews at other Vancouver restaurants, but declined serving positions because the restaurants had similar tipping policies.
“There’s got to be a good honest guy out there somewhere,” she said. “If not, I’m actually considering going into law school at this point.”
Glowbal Restaurant Group owns seven restaurants in Vancouver, including Glowbal Grill & Satay Bar, Coast, Sanafir, Italian Kitchen, Trattoria, Society, and Black + Blue.
You can follow Michelle da Silva on Twitter at twitter.com/michdas.
Comments
18 Comments
Please,Please,Please
Apr 4, 2012 at 12:11pm
Emad Yacoub
"It is equally baffling as to why Ms. Tomlinson chose to focus on The Glowbal Group when the practice of pooling gratuities is an accepted standard in the hospitality sector in Canada."
Which doenst make it legal, jackass.
This is basic employment law and income tax regulations.
If you dont know this, you are incompetent and have no business managing any business.
If you do know this, you are intentionally breaking the law and deserve all the hell you get.
what?
Apr 4, 2012 at 2:15pm
Actually, tip pools are the only way support staff and back-of-house get any gratuities. Think before you type.
Please,Please,Please
Apr 4, 2012 at 3:37pm
what?
"Actually, tip pools are the only way support staff and back-of-house get any gratuities. Think before you type"
I am well aware of the intent of tip pooling.
Which STILL doenst change the fact that the practice runs contrary to employment standards and income tax regulations.
Understand the practical application of the law before you type something about which the reach of your knowledge exceeds your grasp.
Maybe the law needs to be changed, but as it stands, the practice is not legal.
Fatty McGee
Apr 4, 2012 at 4:18pm
I think the problem here is NOT with the tip pooling, but with the fact that the tips are handed in and THEN someone distributes your tips and gives you whatever back.
NOTHING wrong with tipping out to the bussers, bar tender and kitchen staff. They work crazy hard and in most instances (Except for the bar tender) they get ZERO tips. But there IS a problem with giving, "The House" some of your tips. Why should anyone have to do that? For the privilege of working in your restaurant? Go fist yourself.
Perfectly legal
Apr 4, 2012 at 4:38pm
Source: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/hm/tps-eng.html
Controlled tips are gratuities that are controlled by the employer. Since they are controlled by the employer, the employer is considered to have paid these amounts to the employee. The following are some examples of controlled tips:
- The employer adds a mandatory service charge to a client's bill to cover tips;
- The employer adds a percentage to a client's bill to cover tips;
- Tips allocated to employees using a tip sharing formula determined by the employer;
- Tips that an employer includes in his business income, later expenses and redistributes to employees in the form of pay;
- Tips that the employees are required to turn over to their employer and are later distributed to the employees;
- Cash tips that are deposited in the employer's bank account and become the property of (or even commingled with the property of) the employer and subsequently paid out to the employees.
We use the term 'controlled tips' within this article to denote the principles of employer control/employer possession over the tips and the employer's obligation to pay the tip to the employee as expressed by the courts.
Controlled tips form part of the employee's total remuneration and are subject to CPP contributions and EI premiums being deducted at source, provided that this person is employed in pensionable and/or insurable employment.
Taxpayers R Us
Apr 4, 2012 at 4:40pm
I saw something about this on Twitter and agree with a call for a boycott for any restaurant that does this. It's ridiculously unethical. Pooling tips is fine, but by the sounds of it the restaurant is digging much deeper here.
Ringo John
Apr 4, 2012 at 5:17pm
The Glowbal restaurant groups were also Olympic profiteers. Automatic 18-20% gratuity on all bills.
Barman
Apr 4, 2012 at 9:21pm
I have spent over 20 years in the restaurant and bar business and I have seen this "house tip" practice take off in the past 5+ years. It isn't tip pooling, or a tip out to the back of the house, it is greedy owners grabbing whatever cash they can have access to. Back of the house tips usually are formatted as a percentage of sales, there is no reason a server would need to give up their entire tips, only to come back the next day to see what they were allowed to keep. It is extortion from the employer, plain and simple.
Plum Duff
Apr 4, 2012 at 9:28pm
So, I pay through the nose for a restaurant meal and the establishment (owners, staff) are fighting like jackals over the spoils?
Fine. Food carts for me from now on. The food biz in this town is out of control.
@Perfectly Legal
Apr 4, 2012 at 10:11pm
Okay, I looked at the link you supplied, and I think you may have missed a thing or two.
<blockquote>
We use the term 'controlled tips' within this article to denote the principles of employer control/employer possession over the tips and the employer's obligation to pay the tip to the employee as expressed by the courts.
</blockquote>
Seems the original story had corroborating video testimony that the employer withholds 4.5% of the tips (if memory serves). That could be argued to breach the <b>employer's obligation to pay the tip to the employee as expressed by the courts.</b>
It certainly breaches the <b>customers' intent</b> when giving the tips. Maybe the diners have grounds for a class action suit against Glowbal Restaurant Group.
Of course, I hear that any lawyer knows that calling it "Perfectly Legal" prior to a court's decision is... premature.
IANAL, etc.