How close is legislation to make restaurants pay minimum wages before tip? If it’s not close, why?
It seems that would solve a lot of the problems surrounding tipping and the employee situation in restaurants in general.
It seems that would solve a lot of the problems surrounding tipping and the employee situation in restaurants in general.
The people most opposed to that legislation are the bar/waitstaff. Anecdotally, I know bartenders with take home pay close to engineers. They don't want tipping to go away.
I'm sure there are bartenders making 6 figures, but according to the BLS, the 90th percentile make $40k with tips.
The median pay is $10. That's lower than minimum wage in a lot of places, so I doubt that many bartenders are against minimum wage before tips (none of the ones I know are).
1. The BLS knows this, so they get their data from multiple services--not just government agencies.
2. The IRS knows this, so are more likely to audit people who work in industries that receive tip income.
3. If the BLS numbers were vastly underestimating bartender income because of unreported cash tips, you would expect bartender income to have risen much faster than other similar low wage jobs over the last 20 years as cash has become less common. This hasn't happened.
I find it highly unlikely that a server is making anywhere near 60% or so of their tips in cash these days.
Maybe there are a few locations with that high of a mix of cash, but not enough for that to be anywhere near normal.
The first 10-15% of “tip” in the US isn’t a thanks, it’s a mandatory tax on menu prices.
The idea of a “secret” $120 price for a $100 dinner is pretty strange.