The Hill News

“Sometimes I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!”

I think often of this quote from the 2001 movie, "Zoolander", where Will Ferrell’s character is exasperated that everyone in the fashion industry
can’t see that Ben Stiller’s character is a one-trick pony. It's exactly how I feel every time I hear the latest "higher wages kill jobs" argument from one of
the restaurant industry's hired guns.

Now the rhetoric is about to get even more heated. On Thursday, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) introduced the “Rebuild America Act,” which would raise the federal tipped minimum wage, which has been stuck for over twenty years at $2.13 an hour. Expect to hear howls of wage rage early and often from the restaurant industry and their well-paid lobbyists at the National Restaurant Association, as they describe an industry that simply does not exist.

Here are some facts about the minimum wage and the restaurant industry. First, the federal su! bminimum wage for tipped workers has been frozen at $2.13 since 1991! This law allows a $5.12 tip penalty, i.e., employers are allowed to penalize workers up to $5.12 per hour for receiving tips. The
tipped minimum wage especially impacts restaurant workers, who make up the overwhelming majority of tipped workers.

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