Can my employer keep part of my tips?
Short answer
In Quebec, a tip paid by a customer belongs to the employee who provided the service and cannot be mixed in with wages. An employer who receives it must hand it over in full, and cannot impose tip sharing or take part in setting up a sharing arrangement (s. 50 of the Act respecting labour standards).
In detail
A sharing arrangement among employees is possible, but it must be the result of the free and voluntary consent of the people entitled to the tips. The employer cannot draft it, impose it, or apply pressure to have it signed.
The word “tip” includes service charges added to the customer's bill. It does not include administrative charges added to that bill.
The employer must pay at least the applicable minimum wage without taking the tips received into account. Tips therefore cannot be used to make up the difference in order to reach the rate payable.
What to document
The records of tips declared, the breakdown posted or handed out each shift, the sharing arrangement and who proposed it, the exchanges with management about it, and your pay stubs. The amounts per shift, noted day by day, are what later makes a total possible.
Put your facts in writing, free. Writing your version down early, keeping your documents dated and preparing your questions for a lawyer: the tool is there to document, never to advise.
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Official sources
- Act respecting labour standards (CQLR, c. N-1.1) — Légis Québec
- Act respecting labour standards — full text (CanLII)
- CNESST — Wages of employees who receive tips
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What this page is not
This is general legal information about the law of Quebec and Canada, dated and sourced. It is not legal advice, not a strategy, and not a prediction about the outcome of a case. In Quebec, only lawyers and notaries may give legal advice (Act respecting the Barreau du Québec, ss. 128 and 133). Laws and amounts change: the official source always prevails over us.