“Is this legal?” – M’sians Call Out Eatery for Increasing Service Charge to a Whopping 15% for CNY

Chinese New Year is just around the corner but there’s an incident that is attracting attention away from the festivities.

Tebrau MP, Jimmy Puah, took to his Facebook page to call out a local restaurant chain for apparently raising their service charge from 10% to 15% for Chinese New Year on January 29 and January 30.

He wrote, “Is it reasonable and legal? Will the price be raised every holiday in the future?”

“(This is a) precedent that is quite worrying. After all, they are using foreign workers. After this, there will be increases (in service charges) for all festivities.”

He also showcased a notice posted at one of the eatery’s outlets, which confirms the ‘CNY Service Charge Adjustment’ from 10% to 15% on the 2 days of Chinese New Year.

While some believe the increase in service charge is fine, others pointed out that the service charge increase is due to employees requiring ‘double pay’ during public holidays, and that the cost of this ‘double pay’ should be footed by the employer and not the customers.

“This is really unreasonable. First of all, it’s the company that wants to run a business, and employees need to be paid more for holidays. But, (the company) wants to pass this cost onto the consumers. How is this justifiable?”

“I also think the increase is unreasonable. The company needs to pay double the salary but the business volume will be very high during this time. On top of that, raw materials, water and electricity costs will not increase on the first and second days of Chinese New Year. So, I think this is unreasonable.”

What do you think of businesses raising their service charges during festive seasons? Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.

Also read: “It’s illegal” – Former MCA Vice President Calls Out Ipoh Council’s Alcohol Ban in Malay Majority Areas