For our user agree- ment, click here . The governor says he wants to help low-wage earners. The issue here is the bill to enact wage equity in the state by allowing, among other things, tips to be counted as wages the next time we face a minimum wage increase. House Bill 2793 will soon be sent to the governor for signature. He should sign it.
Tipped employees get a low base wage but make their money off tips.
These tips should be seen as part of their wage. Although tipped employees are not really minimum wage workers, they get an increase every time the base wage goes up. Survey upon survey shows that tipped employees make well above the minimum wage. Lower-waged workers such as dishwashers and busboys do need the help. But the way the minimum wage works, a restaurateur must give minimum wage increases to food servers, who are tipped employees, but not to the dishwashers and busboys who often make just above the minimum wage.