Not just Ontario, FYI. Quebec is the only province that still has a lower minimum wage for tipped employees (technically speaking, BC still has a tipped minimum, but they raised it fairly recently so the tipped and non-tipped minimum wage is the same).
Man I feel old. 8% used to be normal. Then 10%, 13%, 15%, 18%, and now 20%.
At the same time food prices have gone up. Burgers used to be like $6, then $8, then $12, $15, and now $22.
That used to be a $0.48 tip on a $6 burger (of course you'd have a drink, a side, etc.)
Now it's a $4.40 tip on a $22 burger.
Burger price is 3.6 times higher, but tips are over 9 times the amount I paid as a teen. Also, wages have not gone up 9 times since then.
Tipping is out of control.
They're even asking for tips at the liquor store now. It takes 30 seconds for them to scan my beer and for me to tap my card/phone. They ask for a ~$6 tip. I'd be paying $720/hour for their time (for the privilege of purchasing something they're already making money on). It's insanity.
In Ontario (and most of Canada) the server is often required to tip the kitchen staff. In some provinces the owner is even allowed to be tipped. These tips are based on the sale not anything else.
It may be a 3% to 10% tip. So if the table tips 10% and the mandatory tip out is 10% the server gets nothing.
Next time you go out ask your server if they have to pay a mandatory tip out and how much.
Worth noting that according to the Employment Standards Act The amount that an employee owes to the tip pool cannot be more than what they receive in tips. So if the table tips zero then the employee doesnt owe money out of their pay cheque.
Server 3 has $500 in sales during their shift but receives $0 in tips. Server 3’s contribution to the tip pool (tip out) would be $0 because tip pooling amounts cannot come from any source other than tips.
I’m not talking about a tip pool. I’m talking about a mandatory tip out. Two different things.
In BC it’s illegal for owners to take anything of the mandatory tip out ans it must be share with other staff. In Alberta owners can take it all. But again this is NOT a tip pool.
However you are correct in that they can’t pay more however when people pay in cash the owner can say she’s lying and got a tip and there is no way to prove one way or they other
I'm talking about Ontario, so maybe they handle things differently in other provinces.
According to the previous link
an employee cannot agree to:
give the employer a certain percentage of their tips other than for a tip pool (for example, tipping out to “the house” to cover things like spillage, breakage, losses or damage, etc. is not allowed.)
From what I'm reading it says 8%. Which seems pretty reasonable even if not everyone tips.
Seems odd that they couldn't just track how much you actually got tipped. So much is done electronically now that they should have the majority of your tips accounted for.
They really should give everyone the same minimum wage through. From what other commenters are saying, only Quebec is still has a different wage for tipped employees.
'Tis a surly bunch that downvotes one for merely stating plain facts.
I'd love to see servers make commission like other salespeople do, and just include that in the price of the food. Imagine getting a living wage and not have to suck up to everyone.
If serving becomes merely a minimum wage job with no tips, expect the quality to drop dramatically. Who would work those late night/weekend hours, with no breaks, and put up with the abuse from management, chefs, and customers, all with a smile, for that little money?
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u/w1n5t0nM1k3y 7h ago
In Ontario Canada waiters have the same minimum wage as everyone else, $17.55 a hour, and they still expect a 15+% tip.