Restaurateurs hope tipped minimum wage issue will be resolved

Vermont restaurant industry advocates hope to clarify this coming year a secondary minimum wage issue that’s now mixed in with the push for a $15 minimum wage: the tipped minimum wage.

The general minimum wage in Vermont is $10.50 an hour. Under legislation passed in 2017, it will rise with the consumer price index each year starting in January. This January, the overall general wage will go up to $10.78 per hour.

Tipped workers, such as waitstaff, cannot earn less than half the minimum wage. Therefore, as the overall minimum wage goes up, so too does the tipped workers’ minimum. Under state law, if the basic minimum wage and tips don’t bring servers’ hourly pay up to the general state minimum wage, employers pay the difference. Some restaurant owners would like to see the issues separated, so when the general minimum wage is raised, the tipped wage doesn’t automatically rise too.

The issue of the overall minimum wage and the minimum for tipped workers are built into the same legislation, and for years, the Vermont Chamber of Commerce has worked on both issues at once. In the case of the overall minimum wage, the chamber is trying to slow increases to reduce the impact on employers.

Read more: https://vtdigger.org/2018/10/10/restaurateurs-hope-tipped-minimum-wage-issue-will-resolved/