 | The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject.(April 2010) |
"Dine and dash" is a phrase used to describe a person that has not paid for their meal at a restaurant. The act usually involves the client placing an order, consuming it, and then exiting the establishment before or after being presented with the bill. The action is often considered to be a form of theft.
In the United Kingdom, dine and dashes are prosecuted as making off without payment. [1]
In the United States, legal implications vary by state. When the customer intended in advance to leave their bill unpaid and therefore obtained the valuable services under false pretenses, failing to pay the bill is considered theft and is a form of criminal fraud. [2] The diner's intent differentiates the civil case of failing to pay a bill from the criminal act of defrauding an innkeeper. [2] In Michigan, defrauding an innkeeper is a specialized statutory misdemeanor offense, with a maximum penalty of 93 days in jail and a fine of up to $500 and possible probation for up to 2 years. It can be charged either under state law or local ordinance. The gravamen of this offense involves failure to pay an incurred bill at a bar, cafe, hotel, motel or restaurant with intent to defraud the business establishment. [3] In one case, a man was arrested and charged with 10 felonies after 13 women who dated him footed the bill after he fled. [4] [5]
Sometimes employers may make their employees recoup the cost of customer theft. They may do so explicitly by deducting unpaid meals from wages or tips, or implicitly through an end-of-shift reconciliation system whereby the server is expected to provide enough cash and credit card receipts to cover the cost of their customers' meals, and keep any surplus as tips. Many jurisdictions consider this to be wage theft, with the employer being liable for paying back the server's stolen wages. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word theft is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such as larceny, robbery, embezzlement, extortion, blackmail, or receiving stolen property. In some jurisdictions, theft is considered to be synonymous with larceny, while in others, theft is defined more narrowly. A person who engages in theft is known as a thief.
Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud. Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbidden by law in some jurisdictions but such an offense is not related to forgery unless the tampered legal instrument was actually used in the course of the crime to defraud another person or entity. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations.
A gratuity is a sum of money customarily given by a customer to certain service sector workers such as hospitality for the service they have performed, in addition to the basic price of the service.
Embezzlement is a term commonly used for a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking advantage of their position to steal funds or assets, most commonly over a period of time.
In criminal law, property is obtained by false pretenses when the acquisition results from the intentional misrepresentation of a past or existing fact.
Waiting staff (BrE), waiters / waitresses, or servers (AmE) are those who work at a restaurant, a diner, or a bar and sometimes in private homes, attending to customers by supplying them with food and drink as requested. Waiting staff follow rules and guidelines determined by the manager. Waiting staff carry out many different tasks, such as taking orders, food-running, polishing dishes and silverware, helping bus tables, entertaining patrons, restocking working stations with needed supplies, and handing out the bill.
A payroll is a list of employees of a company who are entitled to receive compensation as well as other work benefits, as well as the amounts that each should obtain. Along with the amounts that each employee should receive for time worked or tasks performed, payroll can also refer to a company's records of payments that were previously made to employees, including salaries and wages, bonuses, and withheld taxes, or the company's department that deals with compensation. A company may handle all aspects of the payroll process in-house or can outsource aspects to a payroll processing company.
Bank fraud is the use of potentially illegal means to obtain money, assets, or other property owned or held by a financial institution, or to obtain money from depositors by fraudulently posing as a bank or other financial institution. In many instances, bank fraud is a criminal offence.
Garnishment is a legal process for collecting a monetary judgment on behalf of a plaintiff from a defendant. Garnishment allows the plaintiff to take the money or property of the debtor from the person or institution that holds that property. A similar legal mechanism called execution allows the seizure of money or property held directly by the debtor.
Theft of services is the legal term for a crime which is committed when a person obtains valuable services — as opposed to goods — by deception, force, threat or other unlawful means, i.e., without lawfully compensating the provider for these services. It may also overlap with some types of fraud in which payment is made on credit, but under an assumed identity, and ultimately disavowed.
The Theft Act 1978 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It supplemented the earlier deception offences contained in sections 15 and 16 of the Theft Act 1968 by reforming some aspects of those offences and adding new provisions. See also the Fraud Act 2006.
Making off without payment is a statutory offence in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Hong Kong. It was first introduced on the recommendation of the Criminal Law Revision Committee and is intended to protect legitimate business concerns and applies where goods are supplied or a service is performed on the basis that payment will be made there and then. A taxi passenger who runs off without paying the fare at the end of the journey; and a motorist who fills up with petrol at a garage and drives off when the attendant is distracted. For these purposes, it must be proved that the defendant knew that payment on the spot was required or expected, and made off dishonestly with intent to avoid payment of the amount due.
The California Labor Code, more formally known as "the Labor Code", is a collection of civil law statutes for the State of California. The code is made up of statutes which govern the general obligations and rights of persons within the jurisdiction of the State of California. The stated goal of the Department of Industrial Relations is to promote and develop the welfare of the wage earners of California, to improve their working conditions and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment."
Revenue and Customs Commissioners v Annabel's Ltd [2009] EWCA Civ 361 is a UK labour law case regarding the treatment of tips under the National Minimum Wage Act 1998. It led to the abolition of tips being considered part of wages for the purpose of assessing compliance with the national minimum wage.
Mandatory tipping is a tip which is added automatically to the customer's bill, without the customer determining the amount or being asked. It may be implemented in several ways, such as applying a fixed percentage to all customer's bills, or to large groups, or on a customer-by-customer basis. Economists have varied opinions on the issue of mandatory tipping. Arguments against mandatory tipping include higher food price at the restaurant to make up for wages and loss of control of dining experience.
Wage theft is the failing to pay wages or provide employee benefits owed to an employee by contract or law. It can be conducted by employers in various ways, among them failing to pay overtime; violating minimum-wage laws; the misclassification of employees as independent contractors; illegal deductions in pay; forcing employees to work "off the clock", not paying annual leave or holiday entitlements, or simply not paying an employee at all.
A trust-fund tax is any type of tax in which the person or entity who is liable for the tax obtains it by collecting it from another party and holding the tax until paid to the particular government to which it is owed. For example a merchant collecting sales tax or an employer collecting payroll tax. The party collecting the tax is presumed to hold it in trust for the benefit of the government to whom it is due. They become liable for payment of the tax. A trust-fund tax is a type of tax or debt where the management or responsible employees of a corporation or other entity with limited liability can be held personally liable for its non-payment.
DoorDash, Inc. is a San Francisco–based company that operates an online food ordering and food delivery platform. It trades under the symbol DASH. With a 56% market share, DoorDash is the largest food delivery company in the United States. It also has a 60% market share in the convenience delivery category. As of December 31, 2020, the platform was used by 450,000 merchants, 20,000,000 consumers, and one million delivery couriers.
Initiative 77 was a voter-approved ballot initiative in Washington, D.C., to phase out the special minimum wage for tipped employees as part of the national Fight for $15 campaign. In the June 2018 primary election, D.C. voters approved Initiative 77 by a margin of 56% to 44%; however, the D.C. Council repealed the initiative in October before it could enter into force. In 2022, a nearly identical Initiative 82 was approved for the November 8, 2022 election.
Defrauding an innkeeper is a crime that involves not paying for food or lodging which was obtained under false pretenses with intent to defraud the owner or manager. Wyoming legislature developed drafts indicating defrauding an innkeeper should be a felony, and in neighboring state Colorado, the laws were modified to include landlords. In Florida, HB621 was signed into law and goes in effect on July 1, 2024.
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