Staff at Oscar's in Shawlands, Glasgow 'threatened' with lost tips for failure to clean microwave

A Glasgow restaurant has come under fire for appearing to threaten staff with tip deductions if they fail to clean or follow instructions.

On Monday, Unite Hospitality shared a message sent by a senior manager to staff at Oscar’s Bar and Restaurant in Shawlands, outlining a new “tips scheme”.

The message told staff that tips are a “bonus”, and all workers would now be liable to lose tips if they did not follow outlined instructions.

The message highlighted a loss of £2 in tips for making the manager “repeat myself”; £5 for failing to clean, label and break downs storage tubs; and £10 upon leaving a spoon in a tub, among others.

Most notably, staff members would be required to forfeit the week’s tips if they failed to clean out the microwave.

The message went on: “Some of these you might find a bit excessive, but if we all want to keep our full tips, we will stick to this and the kitchen will run a lot more efficient.

“I fully expect all of us to be receiving full tips every fortnight.”

Unite Hospitality called for fair tips legislation, and condemned the message in its entirety on social media.

Below is a genuine message sent by senior management to workers at Oscar's Bar & Restaurant in Shawlands, Glasgow – threatening to deduct up to a weeks tips for failure to clean a microwave…

This is why Fair Tips legislation is sorely needed. pic.twitter.com/Cly7v9OX8m
— Unite Hospitality (@FairHospitality) June 12, 2023

Following an onslaught of backlash, owners of Oscar’s released a statement calling the Tips Scheme “ill-informed and completely unacceptable”.

They wrote: “We would like to distance ourselves entirely from the post that was sent to workers by a senior manager entitled Tips Scheme. It was ill-informed and completely unacceptable.

“Our workforce are incredibly important to us and as such we have decided to adopt a new Fair Tips Policy which will ensure that 100% of all tips go directly to the workers who provide the great service our customers have come to expect.

“Not a penny of these tips will go to management and they will be shared fairly among all other workers according to the hours that they work.

“We welcome the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 and hope to work with Unite on all matters relating to the terms and conditions of our workers.”