Requirement to deal with tips, gratuities and service charges Section 8: Enforcement: information Complaints to employment tribunal about information
Section 8 inserts Section 27N, which deals with complaints relating to an employer’s obligations concerning information. This broadly covers obligations concerning written policies and record keeping.
	Subsection 27N(1) allows a worker to make a complaint to an employment tribunal that their employer has failed to comply with a requirement set out in section 27I (which includes the requirement for employers to have and make available a written policy dealing with qualifying tips, gratuities and service charges at a relevant place of business) or section 27J (which includes the requirement for employers to maintain a record of how qualifying tips, gratuities and service charges have been dealt with and to comply with workers’ written requests for information in accordance with the section).
	Subsection 27N(2) provides that a time limit of three months for the worker to present such a claim to the tribunal. Subsection 27N(4) applies section 207B of the Employment Rights Act 1996, which means that time spent complying with the requirement to consult with Acas before instituting proceedings will not be counted for the purposes of this three month period. Subsection 27N(3) also provides that an employment tribunal may also consider a complaint after the expiry of the three-month period if it is satisfied that it was not reasonably practicable for the worker to present the claim within that period, so long as the complaint is presented within such further period that the tribunal considers reasonable.
	Section 8 also inserts section 27O, which provides the remedies available to an employment tribunal where it finds a worker’s complaint under section 27N to be well founded.
	Subsection (1) provides that if an employment tribunal finds a complaint under section 27N to be well founded it must make a declaration to that effect and may make an order requiring the employer to comply with the relevant requirement in accordance with section 27I or section 27J.
	Subsection (2) provides that, where an employment tribunal makes a declaration that a complaint is well founded, it may also order the employer to pay compensation to the worker who has complained to the tribunal. Such a payment of compensation must be a sum which the tribunal considers appropriate to compensate the worker for any financial loss attributable to the breach. However, the compensation payment is not to exceed £5,000 per complainant.
	Subsection (3) makes it clear that an employment tribunal can order a payment of compensation whether or not it has made an order under subsection (1)(b) requiring the employer to comply with the requirement contained in section 27I or section 27J.