Jeffrey (Jeff) H. Ruzal, Member of the Firm in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practice, in the firm’s New York office, was quoted in Law360 Employment Authority, in “No Fine Print: Service Fees, COVID Surcharges & Tipped Staff,” by Daniela Porat. (Read the full version – subscription required.)

Following is an excerpt:

Banquet halls, restaurants and other hospitality businesses should ensure they are clear about who benefits from service fees, or the increasingly common COVID-19 surcharge, to avoid violating regulations for tipped staff, attorneys say.

Massachusetts' top appellate court recently found that a country club shortchanged its staff by keeping part of a fee charged to patrons for events, reversing two lower courts that had sided with the club. …

This ruling comes at a time when a lot of hospitality employers are facing increased operational costs and may assess fees such as a COVID-19 surcharge to help keep their business afloat, said Jeffrey Ruzal, a member of management-side firm Epstein Becker & Green PC.

"Keeping in the spirit of the specific details required in identifying a charge in New York, Massachusetts, and elsewhere, [it's] always better to describe exactly what that charge represents, where it's going, who's retaining it," he said. "And to the extent practical and feasible, why it's being assessed."

The "Reasonable Customer" Is Always Right

A unique aspect of this type of tipped wages law is that the notice concerning the charge must go to the customer, not necessarily the employee, Ruzal said.

"It's the reasonable customer who has to understand whether or not the extra charge was intended to be a gratuity that should be payable to the employee or not for the service that was provided," he said.

An employer can charge an administrative fee that goes to the house, but they just have to be clear about the intent of the charge and where that money is going from the customer's perspective, Ruzal said.

New York stipulates that the notice statement must appear in a font size similar to the surrounding text but nothing smaller than a 12-point font.

"You can't have the quite literal small print," Ruzal said. …

"Having the prescriptive language on the menu or bill or invoice or agreement is really the recommended practice to avoid coming within scrutiny of potential tip diversion," Ruzal said.

Ultimately, it's on the employer to make sure the customer understands.

"I think it's important though to recognize that hospitality businesses need to be sensitive to how such fees are labeled," he said. "And a quote unquote COVID fee with nothing more could mean a lot of different things."

Industries

Jump to Page

Privacy Preference Center

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.