by Ron Bartels, Ph.D.

Mandatory Restaurant Tip Law - Unconstitutional

The category for this case is “Ridiculous Laws.”

The background is that a group of six or more people are required to pay a “mandatory 18% tip.”  No recourse for poor or inadequate service.  The top defect in this law is that it is mandatory.  All “Liberty” had been removed.  The second major defect in this law is the “lack” of redress of a grievance process.  Click on this link to learn more about the redressing of a grievance.

This right of the “people” was retained by the people when they formed the State & Federal Governments.  They did not delegate any authority to any governmental legislative body to make a law that is void of a redress of grievance.  This is the type of law that is typically written by labor union goons to enrich their subjects at the expense of the public they serve, regardless of quality and/or quantity of service.

The public legislative bodies have no authority from the people to even make such a law in the first place.  This is a matter of private policy in the domain of a private business.  A privately owned restaurant has the authority to make a mandatory 18% gratuity a part of their prominently displayed terms and conditions but no level of government has that particular authority.

Any competent lawyer, and many pro se litigants, using the tactic called jury nullification, should be able to successfully present this case to a jury of peers, sans union goons.

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