Servers at some restaurants are upset after their employers decided to keep a larger portion of their tips.
The tips paid to servers are typically shared with support staff in the kitchen with a small amount going to management, but one server said his employer has increased the take, meaning his take-home pay has actually gone down.
“I'm essentially losing between $10 and $20 a day in tips, which essentially if I calculate my hours is the amount of money that I would have made with the minimum wage increase,” said Nick Nemisz, waiter.
The minimum wage increase came into effect on October first and is the second increase in just over a year. Employers have seen the cost of minimum wage labour go up by roughly 20 per cent in the past year, all while facing a slow economy. Some have let staff go, others have reduced hours. The province said that wasn’t the point of raising minimum wage.
"By increasing the minimum wage we are ensuring or guaranteeing that workers are making a little more money that they can rely on," said Deron Bilous, Minister of Economic Development and Trade.
The Calgary Chamber of Commerce says it doesn't disagree with improving wages, but its members are having trouble with how it's being implemented.
“It’s an arbitrary wage on an arbitrary timeline and it's not really tied to any specific economic indicators and that means that it’s unclear the impact that it’s going to have and if it's going to really even achieve the benefit they were looking for," said Scott Crockatt, Calgary Chamber of Commerce.
Restaurants are within their rights to redistribute tips or even eliminate them all together but servers should be aware of their own rights.
