Waitress reveals her payslips to ‘prove’ restaurant was taking her tips

A waitress has revealed her payslips that she claims provide proof that her bosses took more than £700 of her tips. 

Emma Smith quit her job at Albert’s restaurant in Didsbury, Greater Manchester, over the tip row.

The 27-year-old, who had worked there for five months, then took to Facebook to post pictures of her payslips. 

She wrote: ‘Albert’s unfairly take tips off their staff to line the owners’ pockets. ‘If you’re happy that the majority of your card tips go direct to the company then continue to do so, I just thought everyone should be aware of this. The only tips we actually get are cash.’

Emma also claimed that staff are charged if they make mistakes and fined if they are late to clean tables. 

The restaurant admitted keeping some tips and a small number of charges for mistakes, but insisted they kept no more than 10%.

Emma wrote: ‘Whether we have actually made the tips or not, they take a cut of everything we have sold from us that day. 

So theoretically we could end up paying out of our own pocket. “Then every fortnight we get a cheque showing us how much money we have made on card tips and then it shows the massive reduction that goes to Albert’s house and the disheartening figure that we are actually coming away with. 

‘Some cheques can be in minus figures if we haven’t made enough, and so we then owe the company money.’ Emma’s payslips appear to show £657.07 deducted by ‘House Didsbury’, with £224.40 taken in one go.

She added: ‘I would go home crying to my family and be complaining about it, I just decided enough was enough.’ James Ramsbottom, owner of Elle R Leisure who are behind Albert’s, said: ‘I cannot comment on specific allegations as that is now a legal matter.

doorstep ‘However more than 90% of tips earned go to staff on site. ‘Very occasionally, staff have been asked to contribute towards mistakes made but this has only amounted, in total, to £170 in the last 12 months. 

Again this system is in place to ensure good service. ‘If a server makes persistent errors, it can massively affect service, not just to the table in question, but the whole restaurant. However this is very rarely used and is at the discretion of the manager.’