An ex-employee of theme restaurant Karen’s Diner has secured a Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) ruling that she is due hundreds of euro in unpaid tips, in the third such decision against the chain.
The international theme restaurant chain, which is marketed an interactive dining experience with “rude service as part of the performance”, opened its doors on O’Connell Street, Dublin in 2024.
The worker, Carenin Rosa De Oliveira, quit her job at Karen’s Diner after going six months without receiving her share of the money, which she was meant to receive according to her ex-employer’s tipping policy, she told the WRC.
It seemed to her that the “non-payment of the monies owed was accumulating with no end in sight”, she added.
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The worker’s further evidence was that there was “a general unease among staff concerning the non-distribution of tips and gratuities and service charges”. Her employer “knew that there was a problem, but kept putting off making any payment”, she added.
Roberta Urbon, of human resources consultancy Peninsula Business Services, appeared for the restaurant.
Her submission was that the business “concedes there are some monies owed”, the tribunal recorded.
Adjudication officer Penelope McGrath wrote in her decision that the respondent had failed to provide evidence on how the money owed to Ms Rosa De Oliveira ought to be calculated and therefore had not “repudiated” the worker’s claims.
Ms McGrath noted the complainant had told her she “could not give an exact figure” and had “erred on the side of modesty” in bringing her claim for that reason.
“I accept that the complainant, who gave very compelling evidence, is only looking for what she says ought to have been paid to her in the course of her employment,” the adjudicator added.
She upheld three separate complaints by Ms Rosa de Oliveira under the Payment of Wages Act, awarding her a total of €796 for the breaches.
In decisions issued in March and April this year, the restaurant’s management was directed to pay over €1,200 to two other staff on foot of similar complaints. It had not appeared before the tribunal in response to either of the previous claims.
The decision published on Tuesday in favour of Ms Rosa De Oliveira brings the total sum awarded to former staff of the restaurant to €2,014.
Another former employee, Maria Wilkinson, said in evidence to the tribunal that was told the service charge paid by customers would be “divided between all employees” and that she had expected that to be worth €1,000 to €2,000. However, she said she never got any share of that.
The adjudicator in that case concluded that there were “significant tips” being generated by the restaurant but that “whatever became of the tips is not clear except to the extent that neither the complainant nor her co-workers received any of them”.
He awarded Ms Wilkinson €1,018.40, four weeks’ wages, for a “breach of her rights” under the Payment of Wages Act.
Sarah Butler, a member of floor staff who worked at the restaurant from January to March 2024, secured €200 in compensation for the non-payment of cash tips in her final week of employment.
Ms Butler had also sought compensation for electronic tips she said were not paid to her going back to the start of last year, but that aspect of her complaint was ruled out of time.
