Today, Senators from opposition parties and independents voted for the ‘Protection of Employee Tips Bill’ to become law. The passing of the Sinn Féin bill, making it illegal to withhold tips earned by workers, is a huge step forward for hospitality workers.
Given the cross party support in the Seanad, I sincerely hope that the same spirit will prevail in the Dáil and that this can become law as soon as possible.
I congratulate my colleague, Senator Paul Gavan, who has worked tirelessly in outreach and consultation to ensure that the proposal is workable and results driven.
Over the last few months, as this bill was being progressed, we heard from many workers in the sector who were subject to their hard earned tips being withheld from them for various reasons.
While we continuously hear of increased employment figures, this bill and the discussion around it reminded us all that many people in employment are in low paid or precarious work. Any law that gives more protection to workers to keep money they have earned themselves has to be welcomed.
While cross party support is welcome, the next step is to follow this up in the Dáil and make sure that this law is there to protect some of the lowest paid and most vulnerable workers.
