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Should the tipped minimum wage be abolished? Lawmakers hear from advocates, servers on proposed ballot question.

Tipped workers should still make $15 an hour. If servers don’t make $8.25 in tips an hour, the employer is supposed to pay the difference. Advocates said this leaves employees vulnerable to wage theft and poor working conditions.

Opponents of the tipped minimum wage ballot question held their own press conference, right after proponents and just before a legislative hearing on the topic outside of the Massachusetts State House. Jonathan Wiggs /Globe Staff

By Molly Farrar

March 13, 2024

3 minutes to read

State lawmakers heard arguments for and against a proposed ballot question to raise the minimum wage for tipped workers Tuesday — a measure some say would mean less money for workers and others say would protect workers’ rights.

One Fair Wage, a national coalition, is sponsoring a proposed ballot question to raise the current $6.75 wage for tipped workers to $15 over the course of five years. The proposal also changes Massachusetts’s current tip sharing rules. If passed, the law would permit employers to split tips among all workers, including non-tipped workers.

Legally, tipped workers should still make $15 an hour, the minimum wage in Massachusetts. (If a worker makes more than $20 in tips a month, they are considered a tipped worker.) If a server’s tips and hourly pay don’t add up to minimum wage, the employer is supposed to pay the difference. Advocates said this leaves employees vulnerable to wage theft and poor working conditions.

Right now, seven states mandate a sole minimum wage for all workers, regardless of tips.

Lawmakers hear from experts, advocates on proposed ballot measure

Experts spoke to the Special Joint Committee on Initiatives Petitions, detailing the complexities of raising the tipped minimum wage. Sean Jung, an assistant professor at Boston University’s School of Hospitality Administration, told lawmakers the measure could prompt a change in the restaurant industry in Massachusetts.

Jung said to survive, restaurants could reduce hours of wait staff, fire employees, use more frozen food, add service charges, or go out of business. He said the profit margins are already low due to the pandemic and high inflation rates.

Lawmakers also heard from a panel that included advocates from the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, the president of One Fair Wage, and a policy expert from the Economic Policy Institute. They told lawmakers that these sub-minimum wage policies leave women, particularly women of color, at risk of sexual harassment.

“It is time to treat restaurant workers like the professionals that they are,” Yamila Ruiz said. “We need to rectify this power imbalance that exists as a result of the subminimum wage.”

Saru Jayaraman, the president of One Fair Wage and a director at University of California Berkeley, told lawmakers that small businesses in California, where the minimum wage for all workers is $16 an hour, are growing at a faster rate than in Massachusetts.

One Fair Wage President and Co-founder Saru Jayaraman speaking in front of the State House. along with other proponents of a ballot *– Jonathan Wiggs /Globe Staff*

The Massachusetts Restaurant Association is firmly opposed to the measure, they said in a statement Monday. The association has filed suit to fight the proposed ballot question, claiming that raising the tipped minimum wage and changing tip sharing rules are two different subjects.

“Servers and bartenders have made it abundantly clear that they are opposed to any proposal that is going to take hard earned tips out of their pockets,” MRA President Stephen Clark said in a statement. “They don’t want those tips messed with.”

Clashing rallies in front of State House

One Fair Wage spoke in front of the State House on Tuesday, but another group joined them. The Committee to Protect Tips, who describe themselves as servers against the ballot question, were there chanting “save our tips.”

Opponents of the tipped minimum wage ballot question held their own press conference. – Jonathan Wiggs /Globe Staff

Members with the Committee to Protect Tips also testified to legislators Tuesday. Andrea Klein, a bartender at Firefly’s BBQ in Marlborough, said she makes between $30 and $50 an hour.

“Moving to a minimum wage employee would not only force me to struggle paying my rent and bills, it would make me reconsider my employment path,” she said.