Trump Administration Is Trying to Hide the $5.8 Billion Its Tip
Trump Administration Is Trying to Hide the $5.8 Billion  Its  Tip-Stealing Plan Would Cost Workers
A recent study shows the costs of the Trump Department of Laborâs proposed rule that would allow employers to steal workers' tips  and theyâre huge. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that employers would take $5.8 billion from workersâafter all  tip theft isnât allowed now but itâs still fairly common: âResearch on workers in three large U.S. cities (Chicago  Los Angeles and New York) finds that 12 percent of tipped workers had tips stolen by their employer or supervisor.â
As you might imagine  Team Trump has not exactly led with this information. In fact  the EPIâs Heidi Shierholz tells Jared Bernstein in the Washington Post  the Trump Department of Labor isnât even doing the bare minimum to let the public know what effect this proposal would have:
In a deeply unusual move  DOL did not provide an estimate of the amount of tips that will be transferred from workers to employers (which is one reason we did so). This is unusual because agencies are required by law as a part of the rulemaking process to assess all quantifiable costs and benefits to the fullest extent possible. DOL could have produced an estimate; at EPI  we produced an estimate in less than two weeks using routine procedures and taking a methodological approach that is in exactly the same spirit of estimates the Department of Labor produces all the time [Note: Shierholz was formerly chief economist for the DOL]. Why didnât DOL produce an estimate? To ask the question is to answer it; any good-faith estimate would have shown this rule will result in a substantial shift of tips from workers to employers and the DOL under President Trump â and Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta â is trying to hide that fact.
Thatâs the Trump administration three-step for you: decide to do a bad thing  lie about what its effects will be  and skirt the law to avoid transparency. At potentially huge cost to workers  in this case.
Trump Administration Is Trying to Hide the $5.8 Billion  Its  Tip-Stealing Plan Would Cost Workers
A recent study shows the costs of the Trump Department of Laborâs proposed rule that would allow employers to steal workers' tips  and theyâre huge. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that employers would take $5.8 billion from workersâafter all  tip theft isnât allowed now but itâs still fairly common: âResearch on workers in three large U.S. cities (Chicago  Los Angeles and New York) finds that 12 percent of tipped workers had tips stolen by their employer or supervisor.â
As you might imagine  Team Trump has not exactly led with this information. In fact  the EPIâs Heidi Shierholz tells Jared Bernstein in the Washington Post   [TGT]  isnât even doing the bare minimum to let the public know what effect this proposal would have:
In a deeply unusual move  DOL did not provide an estimate of the amount of tips that will be transferred from workers to employers (which is one reason we did so). This is unusual because agencies are required by law as a part of the rulemaking process to assess all quantifiable costs and benefits to the fullest extent possible. DOL could have produced an estimate; at EPI  we produced an estimate in less than two weeks using routine procedures and taking a methodological approach that is in exactly the same spirit of estimates  [TGT]  produces all the time [Note: Shierholz was formerly chief economist for the DOL]. Why didnât DOL produce an estimate? To ask the question is to answer it; any good-faith estimate would have shown this rule will result in a substantial shift of tips from workers to employers and the DOL under President Trump â and Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta â is trying to hide that fact.
Thatâs  [TGT]  three-step for you: decide to do a bad thing  lie about what  [TGT]  effects will be  and skirt the law to avoid transparency. At potentially huge cost to workers  in this case.