Can you refuse to sign a paper/agreement?

WilliamO

Hello everyone,

I have a friend who has worked in a Cloakroom for 10 Years. They sometimes put out a TIPS bowl whereby the clients who attend the function room (i.e. business seminar) can optional give a small tip to the cloakroom staff as a whole.

The company who owns the building and organise the functions are now asking the cloakroom staff to sign a paper/agreement that states they will no longer be able to put out a TIPS bowl and therefore no longer be able to take tips.

Questions:

Can my friend and other cloakroom staff members refuse to sign the paper/agreement? If yes, what legal ground/reason would they have in doing so and what would be the consequences? Could they be sacked for example? Also, if they refuse to sign, can they legally put a TIPS bowl out?

Regards

WilliamO

McKneff

Have the company said why they dont want the tips bowl out.

If there is nothing in their contract, I dont see why the company are faffing about and asking about sigining stuff.

They could, in my opinion, just tell them ot to put it out.

clairec79

i dont see that no tips bowl means they can't accept tips if they are offered. But then, to me, a tips bowl is them asking for tips and I don't like them in general

WilliamO

Hi All,

Does anyone have the legal answer to this query, which is really what I need! Are they allowed to push for such a demand/agreement?

Regards

WilliamO

Gothicfairy

WilliamO wrote: »

Hi All,

Does anyone have the legal answer to this query, which is really what I need! Are they allowed to push for such a demand/agreement?

Regards

WilliamO

What does their contract say ? Is there anything about additional agreements ? or review of working practice etc

Jarndyce

WilliamO wrote: »

Hi All,

Does anyone have the legal answer to this query, which is really what I need! Are they allowed to push for such a demand/agreement?

Regards

WilliamO

Yes they are. They could argue that they have decided that it reflects badly on them as employers for staff to be openly soliciting tips in this way.

Assuming there is nothing in her contract about how tips are shared out, custom and practice might suggest that the employer did not previously object to the practice - they presumably therefore feel that they need to secure agreement to change the practice, which is probably unnecessary but quite understandable.

If she doesn't sign, then yes she could conceivably be sacked for not following a reasonable management instruction, or for 'some other substantial reason' ie not going along with the change. I wouldn't be too confident about her chances at a tribunal either way.

Is this really an issue to fight on? In any case, presumably customers will still offer tips voluntarily?

WilliamO

They are not under any kind of contract as they are "permanent-casuals" as we used to say years ago, so nothing is on paper even with matters regarding what jobs they can or cannot do. For example, they are only supposed to collect coats and hang them up, but when they are not busy they are being asked to do jobs out of their job description such as polishing cutlery from the kitchen.

I think Jarndyce summed quite a few things up. It looks like my friends will be forced to sign it for the sake of company image and not to be sacked. BTW, It was a new manager who decided upon this action, so Jarndyce could be right that the new manager feels that the company may be portrayed as "Those poor cloakroom staff must be underpaid because they need to beg for tips", basically.

Regards

WilliamO

DVardysShadow

The most reasonable course of action is not to put the tips bowl out and be done with it. It takes a fairly pusillanimous management to lack the confidence to instruct the the tips bowl cease forthwith and demand signatures instead.

bevanuk

It looks unprofessional. People are hiring a business venue and then being asked for tips? They are lucky they have got away with it. And I'm surprised the management have even written a formal letter - would have assumed they would just tell them to put it away.

I doubt you can be underpaid for hanging coats up, unless it's below NMW.

Hammyman

WilliamO wrote: »

Questions:

Can my friend and other cloakroom staff members refuse to sign the paper/agreement? If yes, what legal ground/reason would they have in doing so and what would be the consequences? Could they be sacked for example? Also, if they refuse to sign, can they legally put a TIPS bowl out?

Regards

WilliamO

Yes they can refuse to sign however they then have to refuse to work because by working they are deemed to have agreed to the contract. Also it is possible that by not signing, the company can make them redundant. If they are on zero hours contracts, they can just stop giving them more work.

Whilst legally they could refuse to sign and put the tips bowl out, after all there isn't a law saying you can't, they could be found in breach of contract. Just because they haven't received a contract does not mean one exists, merely that it is based on statutory rights.

vax2002

Anything you sign is a contract, which is a document used to reduce and restrict your legal rights.