BOSSES at a popular Glasgow restaurant have launched an internal investigation about ‘unfair’ tipping practices.

Workers at Mexican chain Topolabamba submitted a formal grievance to bosses after discovering gratuities left by customers were being given to staff not working in restaurants and being used to cover breakages.

More than 30 staff at the eateries, who have sites in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, signed the letter to bosses asking for greater transparency and fairness in the division of tips.

A company spreadsheet revealed that management and supervisors are paid almost double the hourly tip rate of floor, bar and kitchen staff.

Chris Knox, 25, who left the restaurant last month, has said staff have now had enough of seeing thousands of pounds of tips earned go to management staff and company coffers.

He said: “At the end of every night tips were added together and put in the till. This meant that any company losses would be covered.

“Punters wouldn’t like where their tips are going –they should be for staff working the floor.

“Higher paid staff always took home more in tips, that was part of me leaving.”

While the current practise is not illegal, proposals by the UK Government would see Topolabamba’s rules fall foul of the law.

At present, customers are not informed of how tips are split meaning they are unaware of where their contributions are going.

New legislation would see tips going to staff only, with no costs taken off for restaurant walk-outs or breakages.

A spokesman for Topolobamba said: “It’s absolutely essential that staff receive their proper allocation of tips, which is why Topolabamba has a tronc system. HMRC rules specifically forbid the company from having any say or discretion over how tips are allocated. It is a matter for individual restaurant management.

“To comply with HMRC E24 rules, the restaurant managers declare the level of tips and their allocation to an independent tronc master, and this is paid monthly to all listed employees.

“Now that we’ve been made aware of this issue, we will be conducting an internal enquiry and will be speaking to the employees involved to resolve the matter.”

Staff are being supported in their action by members of trade union Unite. Organiser Bryan Simpson said: “Our members at Topolabamba have had enough of tens of thousands of their hard-earned tips being used to cover company losses and to top up salaries of managers and operations directors.”