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Re: Customer's right to determine who is entitled to his tip
Posted by Conanalizer on 4/22/09

    On 1/27/09, George wrote:
    > Does a customer have a constitutional right to determine
    > who is legally entitled to his tip?
    >
    > If your answer is NO, please explain why a citizen of the
    > United States should be deprived such liberty. Is there any
    > harm in allowing customers to determine who should be
    > entitled to their tip?

    The answer is "no," there is no Constitutional right (read
    the Constitution; it lists several liberties, and giving away
    tips isn't listed).

    While "liberty" may be a reeeeeeeeeeeallllly important right,
    you aren't always free to do anything you want (including
    giving away tips to the person of your choice) if, as your
    question suggests, there is "harm in allowing customers to
    determine who should be entitled to thier tip."

    First, let's consider the Constitution.

    The US Constitution prohibits the interference of contracts
    (Article I section 10 prohibits "impairing the Obligation of
    Contracts"). An employee of a business is an "agent" of that
    business and thus in contractual relationship with the
    business (even "at will" employees are considered to have
    an "at will" contract).

    A customer wanting to provide a benefit (a tip) to the agent
    for performing the service for which the agent was hired is
    creating a conflict of interest for the agent and interfering
    with the business' contractual relationship with the agent.

    Rather than solely serving the interests of the business (the
    principal), the agent (if patrons may tip) will
    invariably "serve two masters," depriving the business of its
    contractual and thus constitutionally protected right (and,
    in addition, assisting the violation of the agent's duties
    under common law) to loyalty and exclusive service.

    While it may be reasonable for someone who feels underpaid to
    think they deserve a tip, the Constitution does not give
    anyone the right to impair contractual obligations, nor
    create a conflict of interest for agents, nor to induce an
    agent's violation of the duty of loyalty.

     
     

 
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