While servers seek raises, owners defend tip system

Associated Press

NEW YORK

In more than a decade slinging drinks, bartender Autumn Alston has depended on tips to earn a living, leading to an often-inconsistent income from some customers who tip a lot, some who stiff and a few who make cringe-inducing suggestions.

“There was a time when a guy was like, ‘If you pull your shirt down a little more, you’d probably get more money,’” said the 32-year-old mother of two from the Bronx.

Alston and other service workers who depend on tips are at the center of New York State’s latest minimum-wage debate — whether to raise the “below minimum-wage.”

Like most states, New York allows restaurants and hotels to pay servers, busboys and other tipped workers less than minimum wage — $5 per hour instead of $8.75 — as long as they make up the difference with tips.

Now, New York is considering raising the sub-minimum to $7 an hour to decrease the reliance on tips. But restaurant owners are fighting the proposal, which they say would lead to higher menu prices and hurt the very employees it’s designed to help.

Supporters and opponents of higher wages see the tipped-wage debate as a preview of a larger legislative fight over the standard minimum wage.

The federal tipped wage of $2.13 per hour hasn’t changed in 20 years.

Heather Briccetti, president of the Business Council of New York State, serves on the state wage board and said raising the tipped wage too high would significantly disrupt restaurants’ finances. She urges caution.

“The average wage in many of these establishments is already well above the minimum wage,” she said. “Tipped wage workers have always operated under a different structure [than other workers]. A dramatic increase would certainly harm employment in the industry.”