Restaurants Fight Wage Increase For Servers, Bartenders

HARTFORD, CT – The Connecticut Restaurant Association was back at the state Capitol Thursday to ask lawmakers not to increase wages for servers and bartenders.

Last year, when lawmakers increased the minimum wage in 2019 they also decoupled it from tipped wages. That means when the minimum wage went up to $11 per hour on October 1, 2019, the tipped wage for servers and bartenders did not go up. It stayed at $6.38 an hour for servers and $8.23 for bartenders.

If the minimum wage and the tipped wage were still linked the tipped wage would have gone up to $9.48 an hour for servers and $12.23 an hour for bartenders by 2023.

The association representing restaurant owners said any increase in the tipped wage at this point would have a detrimental impact on their businesses, which they say already operate on the margins.

Read more: https://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/archives/entry/20200305_restaurants_fight_wage_increase_for_servers_bartenders/