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Should Massachusetts restaurants be required to pay tipped employees the full minimum wage?
Tipped employees in Massachusetts are already paid the full minimum wage. Both Federal and State law require employers to make up the difference to ensure the employee is paid minimum wage for all hours worked.
Tipped employees are the highest compensated workers in any restaurant setting, earning well above minimum wage, with many averaging twenty five, thirty five, and sometimes fifty dollars per hour!
This compensation model has allowed the highest percentage of employees to earn the highest average wage. Do you know who likes this system the most? The tipped employees themselves! A recent survey of tipped employees from industry publication Upserve determined that 97% prefer the current model of base wage plus tips over straight hourly compensation. If given the opportunity, tipped employees would not trade places with any hourly compensated employees in their restaurants.
Servers are not the asking for this, as this radical change is being driven by activists not in the restaurant industry. One national labor group, The Restaurant Opportunities Center, has pushed the narrative that the tipping system needs to go away, but do they really have server’s best interest in mind? One of their organizers recently quipped “you can’t collect union dues if employees are earning their income through tips.”
Servers across the country have rallied to say “leave us alone” because the current system works for them. A recent Maine op-ed was entitled “I am a restaurant server and I don’t need anyone to save me!” At the MRA, we have heard from servers pleading with us to help stop this legislation.
Much has been made about the 7 states that do not permit restaurant owners to claim a tip credit. Contrary to what the activists would lead you to believe, this is not a recent development, these states have not had a tip credit for decades.
According to Federal data, the average Massachusetts tipped employee earns more than a dollar per hour more than California servers who are paid the state minimum wage. The current compensation model works for tipped employees because they can maximize their income in the relative short hours that come with being a restaurant server.
Tipped employees in Massachusetts are already paid the full minimum wage. Both Federal and State law require employers to make up the difference to ensure the employee is paid minimum wage for all hours worked.
Tipped employees are the highest compensated workers in any restaurant setting, earning well above minimum wage, with many averaging twenty five, thirty five, and sometimes fifty dollars per hour!
This compensation model has allowed the highest percentage of employees to earn the highest average wage. Do you know who likes this system the most? The tipped employees themselves! A recent survey of tipped employees from industry publication Upserve determined that 97% prefer the current model of base wage plus tips over straight hourly compensation. If given the opportunity, tipped employees would not trade places with any hourly compensated employees in their restaurants.
Servers are not the asking for this, as this radical change is being driven by activists not in the restaurant industry. One national labor group, The Restaurant Opportunities Center, has pushed the narrative that the tipping system needs to go away, but do they really have server’s best interest in mind? One of their organizers recently quipped “you can’t collect union dues if employees are earning their income through tips.”
Servers across the country have rallied to say “leave us alone” because the current system works for them. A recent Maine op-ed was entitled “I am a restaurant server and I don’t need anyone to save me!” At the MRA, we have heard from servers pleading with us to help stop this legislation.
Much has been made about the 7 states that do not permit restaurant owners to claim a tip credit. Contrary to what the activists would lead you to believe, this is not a recent development, these states have not had a tip credit for decades.
According to Federal data, the average Massachusetts tipped employee earns more than a dollar per hour more than California servers who are paid the state minimum wage. The current compensation model works for tipped employees because they can maximize their income in the relative short hours that come with being a restaurant server.
