Comment by kelnos
2 days ago
You keep posting this over and over as if states with a lower tipped minimum are equivalent to states with the same minimum, regardless of tips.
You're not wrong that, in states with a lower tipped minimum, the tips act as a credit. But you're ignoring what the power imbalance in those situations can do to an employee, and you're ignoring the fact that in states like that, tips paid by customers are effectively subsidizing the employer out of paying minimum wage.
And I don't think that it would be surprising that wage theft is more common in places where the tipped minimum is set lower than the general minimum.
As a customer, I would much rather know that the employer is paying the full fair minimum wage regardless, and any tip I leave will always be on top of that. I don't want to be paying a part of the employee's wage that the employer would otherwise be paying.
I hear you, but your solution sounds defeatist. Like there's nothing that can be done.
Not effectively, literally. That is what a credit is.
But I'm making sure that the conversation is clear that anyone not making minimum wage is suffering from wage theft. We have to identify the right problem if we want to fix it.
I also like this idea. I don't think there should be a wage credit. It is helpful to reducing wage theft. While I would, personally, get rid of credits I don't think I'd get rid of tipping all together. Certainly at least not until there's a better minimum wage rate.
You're always doing this. Either your money goes directly to the employee or is going to the employee through the intermediary of the employer. In the case you are not directly paying the employee you're paying the employer.