On December 5th, 2017, it was proposed by the Trump Administration that tip regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act needed a revision.
The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking states, "workplaces would have the freedom to allow sharing of tips among more employees. The proposal would help decrease wage disparities between tipped and non-tipped workers – an option that is currently restricted by a rule promulgated in 2011 that has been challenged in a number of courts."
We have less than 30 days to make our public point known that we will not stand for tipped employees having to pool their tips.
Why would we? Why do we care?
Because this means that an employer can swoop in, take all employee's tips and distribute them whatever way they want. Under this new rule, the employer could even pocket tips for themselves or their business.
If that doesn't upset you, it should.
It is factual that tipped employees are currently making 300% more than what they made 30 years ago.
But that doesn't mean that they make enough to feed a family, to send children to college, to put themselves in school or to know that they are going to make their rent that month.
Making more does not mean their jobs are easy or have gotten easier. Tipped workers work in busy, fast-paced, customer-service heavy environments. These aren't jobs that just anyone can do. Tipped workers have to sell themselves as worthy-of-money professionals. They earn every penny of their money, their employer (who's probably on a salary) does not.
The federal tipped wage is $2.13/hour. That's it. Your tips are your entire way of surviving. What bills can you pay on $2.13/hour? The answer: not a single one.
As a waiter/waitress, your employer will never see your every move. They can't keep up with who is texting on the back, who's turning their tables fastest or who's making the most money. How are they suddenly going to have the ability to take every person on the floor's profit and just distribute it in whatever way they deem fit? There's a lack of ethics in this rule.
Tipped workers are not kids working minimum wage jobs just to have some disposable income to throw around with friends. The average age of waiters and waitresses? 29.8 years old. Tipped workers are in the same middle class as the majority of America.
It is not at the fault of the tipped worker that the hourly workers (like chefs) have only had a 20% increase in wage in the last 30 years. It is not at the fault of the tipped worker that federal minimum wage is $7.25/hour and has not seen an increase since 2009.
Tipped workers are simply making the best out of the situation in front of them.
Not only will this Department of Labor rule ruin restaurants' profit margins, but it'll ruin the motivations of their staff. Why would a waiter work harder for more tips if it doesn't really matter because their employer plays favorites in a tip pool? A whole restaurant moving faster to "turn and burn" tables and make more profit overall will just decrease everyone's customer service skills. People will stop tipping highly, because customer service is half the job wait staff does. It's basically a cycle of despair just waiting to happen.
But this rule doesn't have to go into effect. We have time to have the DOL reconsider.
This is not a matter of you supporting/taking down the current presidential administration. This is a matter of you believing in every person being able to reap in the benefits of their hard work, just like you'd want to be able to in your job.
The Department of Labor is accepting public comments on this proposed rule until January 4, 2018. You can make your comment to protect tipped workers here.