The government has said that it will look into laws pertaining to tips in restaurants, following protests by Unite the Union.

Unite held protests outside the Wimbledon branch of Pizza Express on 18 April, after the company dismissed union activist Nabil Guiguis for speaking out over staff tips being diverted into restaurants’ takings making up staff wages.

When asked yesterday by Liberal Democrat peer Lord Lee to investigate this “dishonourable scam” – where employers keep tips or use them to top up staff pay to meet the minimum wage – minister Shriti Vadera told the House of Lords that the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform would look into it.

Vadera said the only rule applicable to the issue is where customers must be told whether or not a service charge has been added to their bill, and that restaurants do not currently have to disclose whether or not a tip is going to staff.

Unite’s action against Pizza Express is part of wider campaign to close the loophole in the law and believes that “tips and service charges should be considered an addition to a decent living wage”.

Dave Turnbull, Unite’s regional industrial officer, said: “I’m sure Pizza Express customers expect that the tips they leave for good service goes to the staff and would be upset that the restaurant is creaming money off the top.

“Pizza Express should do the right thing and reinstate Nabil Guiguis if they want to avoid serious damage to their reputation.”