Sorry I was unclear. No, the state has some rule that says that servers are paid whatever minimum wage is. That's why I don't feel as bad for rewarding bad service with less of a tip. It's also not fair to the dishwashers and cooks who don't make tips. Plus, Washington has a new system of somehow tying the minimum wage to inflation, so it gets raised every couple of years (don't even let me get started on THAT).
Whenever I feel strapped for cash, I have contemplated getting a part-time evening job waitressing. My husband cooks at a popular Italian restaurant (not a chain) and some nights the servers make $150+ in tips alone on a busy weekend evening. That's for maybe a 6 hour shift- then they make almost $8 an hour in base pay. I never do it, but I do seriously consider it.
When minimum wage is increased, what is being ignored is the fact that businesses owners are being allowed an even bigger tip credit on their employees. As it stands right now an employer can reduce his workers wages by $3.02 an hour if and only if the employee receives at least $3.02 an hour in tips from customers. However, when minimum wage is raised, like so many states have already done, the amount of the tip credit is increased. If a state or for that matter the federal government adopts a minimum wage of lets say $6.15 an hour the current federal law would allow businesses to continue to pay tipped employees $2.12 an hour. What this means is that while minimum wage is being increased it is actually allowing businesses owners an ability to credit even more of their employee's tips to themselves. Currently the federal minimum wage stands at $5.15 an hour while the minimum wage for tipped employees is said to be locked in at $2.13 an hour. The current difference between the standard minimum wage and minimum wage for tipped employees is $3.02 an hour, $5.15 minus $2.12 an hour. However, when states or the federal government raises their standard minimum wage to $6.15 an hour, the difference between the tipped employee's minimum wage and the standard minimum wage will be increased to $4.02. Instead of employers being allowed to credit $3.02 an hour of the tips their employees receive from our public, employers will be allowed to credit $4.02 an hour of the tips their employees receive from our public. An increase in minimum wage becomes an increase in the amount employers may steal from their employees who receive tips from our public.
Let me be quite clear on this matter. The tip credit is nothing more than an allowance for employer's to steal the financial benefits of their employee's tips. There is no argument on this issue. When business owners are allowed to reduce an employee's wages because a customer gave him a tip, it is no different than allowing the employer to steal the employee's tip. Bob received $80 in tips, but because he received tips his employer may pay him $24.00 less than what he would have had to have paid him had his customers not tipped him. Bob's tips are being stolen by his employer due to the fact that our federal government has allowed Bob's employer to credit part of Bob's tips towards his employer's minimum wage obligations. While Bob may physically go home with that $80 worth of tips in his pocket, his employer has saved $24.00 which will be reflected on Bob's paycheck. Bob's paycheck will be reduced by $24.00 because our federal and state governments believes that they have a right to take the financial benefits of Bob's tips away from Bob and give them over to business owners.
Let me be even clearer on this matter. It is a constitutional right of every citizen to determine for themselves how their money is spent. If they want to give it to a worker as a tip, our constitution guarantees that our government will not interfere in their rights to dispose of their property however they wish. The tip credit is in violation of our constitution for it blatantly deprives our citizens of their right to determine how and to whom their money will be spent on. The tip credit unconstitutionally deprives customers of their right to determine for themselves whether or not the business owner should benefit from their tips by mandating that any tips given may be used to financially benefit the business owner through the tip credit. The tip credit is criminal and unconstitutional. Tips are not the federal government's property that they should determine that the financial benefits of those tips should be bestowed upon the business owners of this nation. Tips are clearly defined as the sole property of the tipped employee, not the property of the federal government. Customers have a constitutional right to give tips to workers without interference from a corrupt government who believes that the government should be able to transfer the financial benefit of the public's tips over to business owners. This blatant corruption must be stopped. If our government is allowed to disregard our constitution and flagrantly steal from our workers what our public has clearly given them then our nation is headed on a course of self destruction.