Tipped Off 6208

Doug replied to pennyaline:

First, I have to chuckle at pennyaline's use of precise legal terminology. I don't know how many times Daniel Webster won in court by pointing at his opposition and thundering out a scathing "BOGUS!" :-)

Doug, I think I know what she's talking about:

www.gothamist.com-archives-2004-09-15-thetippingpoint.php

"In a blow to restaurant owners and servers in particular, prosecutors upstate ruled that a diner could not be forced to pay a tip - even if the restaurant says it's mandatory."

Of course, that's just ONE case in ONE municipal court. There's no requirement for rigid consistency between judicial venues in cases like that; a similar case could easily go the other way in some other city.

Moreover, Thomas Keller may be well aware of that case, but he might have some reason to believe his service charge *will* be enforceable. The quoted portion doesn't say how the service charge is applied: It might differ significantly enough from customary tipping practices that the court would reasonably view it as an entirely different animal altogether. For example, if the service charge doesn't depend on the cost of the meal, but is a flat fee applied to each diner, then I can see some legitimacy to the claim that the service fee differs significantly from a tip. Maybe even if the flat fee were upped for parties requiring the services of a sommelier -- the restaurant is providing an additional service, so it applies an additional fee. But since I don't know what it meant by a "European-style service charge," that's conjecture on my part. Any of you Europeans want to chime in here and explain how service charges are applied in your part of the world?

Bob