Misguided Wage Mandates are Hurting Employees and Small Businesses

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  • Measuring the Fallout of Initiative 82: The Consequences of Tip Credit Elimination in the District of Columbia

    Initiative 82 was a ballot measure backed by One Fair Wage and opposed by local tipped restaurant workers. The measure passed at the ballot in 2022, and began scheduled wage hikes on May 1, 2023, followed by additional increases July 1, 2023 and July 1, 2024. While these increases are scheduled to continue until the District’s tip credit no longer…

  • Union-Backed Researchers Miss The Mark On California’s $20 Fast Food Wage:

    Recent reports released by the University of California-Berkeley’s Institute for Research on Labor and Education (IRLE) and The Shift Project, a Berkeley IRLE-funded outfit run by Harvard Kennedy School’s Daniel Schneider and UC-San Francisco’s Kristen Harknett, claim California’s new $20 minimum wage for fast food restaurants has not hurt restaurant operators, employees, or consumers. Not only do these claims run…

  • Do Higher Tipped Minimum Wages Reduce Race, Ethnic, or Gender Earnings Gaps for Restaurant Workers?:

    In recent years, labor activists have invested considerable financial resources in campaigns to eliminate what’s known as the tip credit. The tip credit represents the difference between a set base hourly wage for restaurant employees who regularly earn substantial tips, and the regular minimum wage rate. This difference counts regular tip income toward the minimum wage requirement. Legally, the Fair…

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Policy Briefs (See All)

    Debunking False Narratives About D.C. Restaurant Job Trends

    January 24, 2025•MinimumWage.com

    Last week, the D.C. City Council Committee on Executive Administration and Labor held a six-hour hearing to get feedback from employees and restaurants on how the city’s tip credit elimination law is affecting them. Dozens of tipped restaurant workers testified saying the law – Initiative 82 – was hurting their livelihoods and hurting the city’s…

    DC Servers Flood Six-Hour Hearing Opposing Initiative 82

    January 17, 2025•MinimumWage.com

    This week, the District of Columbia City Council Committee on Executive Administration and Labor hosted a hearing to hear employees’ experiences after a year and change under Initiative 82, which is eliminating the city’s tip credit. Under the law, D.C. restaurants have been subject to three tipped wage hikes since May 2023 — up to…

    New EPI Study Shows Initiative 82 Backfired On Workers

    January 10, 2025•MinimumWage.com

    This week the Employment Policies Institute released a new study examining the impacts on DC restaurants of Initiative 82 – a ballot measure that would phase out the tip credit for restaurant workers by 2027. The first phases of implementing Initiative 82 have wreaked havoc on the District’s once-robust dining scene. Instead of One Fair…

    New Data Shows Tips are Lowest – and Declining – in One Flat Wage States

    January 3, 2025•MinimumWage.com

    It’s no secret that states like California and Washington–which have a flat minimum wage with no tip credit–have had some of the lowest average tipping percentages in the nation. Seven states (California, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Montana, Minnesota, and Alaska) prohibit tip credits, which allow restaurant workers to earn a base wage plus tips, as long…

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