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 exists, the city’s restaurants and employees are already struggling.

The first phases of implementing Initiative 82 have wreaked havoc on the District’s once-robust dining scene.

Instead of One Fair Wage’s false promises of “tips on top” and worker equity, restaurants and their employees have already experienced job losses, restaurant downsizing and closures, increased use of service charges in lieu of traditional tips, and a disrupted customer-employee experience.

• D.C. full-service restaurants have lost as many as 4,000 jobs since implementation of Initiative 82. Seventy percent of restaurants have cut hours, laid off staff or stopped hiring.
• Survey data shows restaurants in the city are closing at a higher rate than any year since the pandemic.
• Employees report that they are worse off under Initiative 82, not better.
• A database compiled by DC residents shows the exponential rise of service charges in the District.
• Another survey shows that if these wage hikes continue as planned, restaurants will continue layoffs, raising prices, adding service charges, and close down or leave the city for neighboring Maryland and Virginia.
• This on-the-ground evidence concurs with a larger national picture: Tip credit elimination tried elsewhere across the country has cut jobs and tips and shuttered restaurants.
• Recently, progressive voters in Massachusetts—led by that state’s Democratic governor—rejected tip credit elimination by two-to-one.