Is it legal to deduct the 3+% credit card surcharge for a credit card transaction from a waiter’s/waitress’s tip (in the state of Washington, by the way)? I was really shocked to hear that a restuarant here does this. Is this normal practice?
This of course means that the tip that most people leave amounts to 12%…
Thanks.
I always leave cash. I assume mgmt is crooked.
Peace,
mangeorge
Apparently, come people leave checks as well…even though the sign on the door, the menu and the bill itself says, “No Checks”. So they write the check and leave. The waitress assumes they left cash (as if they are going to run over and look in front of the other customers and then chase them to the parking lot).
Management takes the money off the tips until the check clears. If the check bounces, the waiter must pay out of their tip money.
I wonder if the cc transaction fee mentioned in my original post is somehow a write-off for cost of ownership expenses…
Can’t address legality,since it could be interpreted 2 ways,eg.the customer * intended * to tip the server $5,but the owner can claim the 3% cuts both ways.
You can’t write off the CCs charge,since it’s not really a charge on money you received in hand.The CC gets the money as the transfer agent, then forwards the proceeds (in your example 97% of check) to the restaurant.That check produced $97 gross not $100,reflecing a lower net taxable charge to the IRS.
The CCs on the other hand,usually produce more business or an increase of average check greater than a 3% difference.
Owners understand this,and generally the IRS does,too.
Sounds like your example is a really shitty employer that needs to rethink his priorities.
I would leave that place in a heartbeat if my employer was stealing from me like that. Either that or I’d just steal it back from him.
Are they deducting the entire surcharge from the tip, or just deducting 3% of the tip? For example, the surcharge on a $30 check (total, including tip) is 90 cents. Let’s say the tip was $5 of the $30. The portion of the surcharge related to the tip is 15 cents. Are they taking 90 cents or 15 cents from the tip? If they are leaving the waitperson with a $4.10 tip in this case, a call to the state’s attorney general will fix the problem very quickly.
I don’t think withholding 15 cents from the tip would be in violation of any laws or agreements between the credit issuer and the merchant, though a good employer may want to absorb this cost in order to keep the employees happy.
Note that taking 3% of 15% leaves the waitperson with an effective tip of 14.55%, not 12%, unless they really are taking the entire surcharge from the tip.
We had a similar discussion where I worked. Our employer simply works it by simply offering less in wages and absorbing the cost. Most waitstaff I have audit do not report anywhere near what they should, (I’ve actually had waiters believe that if the customer left cash they weren’t required to report it) so either way they get their money.
What does he do with the funds? If you mean that 3% of the check amount is WITHHELD for taxes, then the owner is not really taking it because the waiter can get it back if he owes no taxes.