Wyatt earp
Diamond Member
- Apr 21, 2012
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No surprise here...
And lots of Maineās restaurant workers were thrilled.
The minimum wage for tipped workers in Maine is half that of the stateās regular minimum wage ($9). Itās called the ātip creditā rule, as it allows employers to take a credit of up to 50 percent from their employeesā wages, because servers will generally make that money back (and hopefully more) in tips. If tips and wages, together, don't equal the state's minimum wage, employers are required to make up the difference.
But, at Novemberās referendum, the Maine House voted to raise the minimum wage by $1 each year (through 2024) and to remove the tip credit rule entirely, meaning that all employees ā tipped or not ā would be earning the stateās minimum wage, reports the Portland Press Herald.
That's when something unexpected happened.
State Senator James Dill, a Democrat who initially voted to raise wages, told the Washington Post that after the Nov. referendum passed, he received āhundredsā of calls and emails from servers who were worried about their livelihood.
As a result, Dill threw his support behind a Republican measure to return the ātip creditā rule. After passing through the Senate on June 7, the bill was brought before the House on June 13, where it passed with a vote of 110-37.
Maine Governor Paul LePage signed the bill into law last week. It will go into effect 90 days after Legislature adjourned, reports the Bangor Daily News.
As the Washington Post reports, servers were worried about the ramifications of the new laws for two reasons: first, that it would force employers to raise prices on their menu items, which could affect their current tips; and second, and perhaps more importantly, that employers might be forced to cut serversā shifts as a result.
āI donāt need to be āsaved,ā and Iāll be damned if small groups of uninformed people are voting on my livelihood,ā said Sue Vallenza, a Maine bartender who spoke to the Post. Vallenza further said sheās already seeing less in tips as a result of customers who believe the wage hike had already went into effect.
As the Post notes, labor activists are bracing themselves for similar outcries in Minnesota, New York, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., but critics say that Maineās servers donāt speak for the countryās restaurant workers.
Maine restaurant workers successfully lobby to lower the minimum wage
.
And lots of Maineās restaurant workers were thrilled.
The minimum wage for tipped workers in Maine is half that of the stateās regular minimum wage ($9). Itās called the ātip creditā rule, as it allows employers to take a credit of up to 50 percent from their employeesā wages, because servers will generally make that money back (and hopefully more) in tips. If tips and wages, together, don't equal the state's minimum wage, employers are required to make up the difference.
But, at Novemberās referendum, the Maine House voted to raise the minimum wage by $1 each year (through 2024) and to remove the tip credit rule entirely, meaning that all employees ā tipped or not ā would be earning the stateās minimum wage, reports the Portland Press Herald.
That's when something unexpected happened.
State Senator James Dill, a Democrat who initially voted to raise wages, told the Washington Post that after the Nov. referendum passed, he received āhundredsā of calls and emails from servers who were worried about their livelihood.
As a result, Dill threw his support behind a Republican measure to return the ātip creditā rule. After passing through the Senate on June 7, the bill was brought before the House on June 13, where it passed with a vote of 110-37.
Maine Governor Paul LePage signed the bill into law last week. It will go into effect 90 days after Legislature adjourned, reports the Bangor Daily News.
As the Washington Post reports, servers were worried about the ramifications of the new laws for two reasons: first, that it would force employers to raise prices on their menu items, which could affect their current tips; and second, and perhaps more importantly, that employers might be forced to cut serversā shifts as a result.
āI donāt need to be āsaved,ā and Iāll be damned if small groups of uninformed people are voting on my livelihood,ā said Sue Vallenza, a Maine bartender who spoke to the Post. Vallenza further said sheās already seeing less in tips as a result of customers who believe the wage hike had already went into effect.
As the Post notes, labor activists are bracing themselves for similar outcries in Minnesota, New York, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., but critics say that Maineās servers donāt speak for the countryās restaurant workers.
Maine restaurant workers successfully lobby to lower the minimum wage
.