Who gets tips in Quebec? Employers are dipping into tips, service workers allege

As credit card machines prompt customers to leave higher tips at all kinds of businesses, some workers say point-of-sale terminals are making it easier for employers to pocket their hard-earned cash.

Jackson Mundie, who used to work at a Montreal sandwich shop, says his boss swindled him and his colleagues out of hundreds of dollars in tips left through credit card machines last summer.

Quebec's labour standards don't restrict employers from asking their clients for tips.

Yet, Section 50 of the province's labour code states that any "tip collected by the employer shall be remitted in full to the employee who rendered the service."

Suspecting that his employer was withholding money, Mundie kept track of tips left electronically throughout his shift by noting transactions when he was operating the cash register.

"I definitely felt scammed," Mundie said. "Most people would expect it to go to the employees that are directly serving you."

Quebec is the only province that has a different, lower minimum wage for workers who are expected to receive tips regularly. That salary has been $12.20 per hour — about $3 less than the province's general minimum wage ($15.25) since May 1.

A spokesperson for the Labour Ministry said in an email that "tipping offers better equity between tipped employees and those receiving the general minimum wage."

It is legal to pay an employee the tip wage rate if they work at a bar, in a train or on a ship where alcoholic drinks and food are sold or a business that offers tourist accommodation, like a campground. The rate can also apply to workers of a business that sells or delivers takeout meals. 

But establishing who exactly is entitled to tips, regardless of their wage, remains unclear.

The CNESST, Quebec's workplace safety board, enforces rules about working conditions. It says that in the last five years, it has dealt with on average 250 complaints annually related to the transfer or distribution of tips, according to documents obtained through an access-to-information request.

In emails to CBC, spokespeople for CNESST and the Labour Ministry insist that it does not matter if an employee is paid the tip-wage rate or the higher minimum wage, their employers are required to transfer tip money to them — whether the sum is left in a jar or comes through a payment terminal.

"Obviously, the CNESST does not intervene in the choice of giving a tip or not, since it is at the discretion of the customers, regardless of the employee's salary," a spokesperson for the Labour Ministry said in a statement. "The CNESST says, however, that the entire tip must be given to the employee who provided the service."

Under the wording of the law, Mundie should have received tips left by customers simply because they were intended for him. But when he filed a complaint to the CNESST, he was told that his position as a fast-food service worker made him ineligible to receive gratuities, much to his confusion.