A CT proposal would eliminate tipped minimum wage. Here’s what to know

A bill under consideration in the Connecticut General Assembly would eliminate the lower minimum wage assigned to hourly employees who earn tips, like servers and bartenders, and would establish instead a single minimum wage that would apply to all workers.

The legislature’s Labor and Public Employees Committee approved a similar bill, S.B. 1177, during the 2023 legislative session, but it didn’t come up for a vote in either chamber.

Here’s what to know about the proposal, known as “One Fair Wage,” which legislators have raised again this year.

How much are Connecticut tipped workers currently paid?

Connecticut’s minimums for tipped workers remain where they’ve been since 2017: $6.38 for wait staff and $8.23 for bartenders.

Tips are expected to bring those wages up to at least the full $15.69 minimum wage, and in cases where they don’t, employers are required by law to pay the difference — known as a tip credit.

The bill would phase out those lower minimum wages by July 1, 2027.

What have supporters said about the bill?

Sen. Julie Kushner, D-Danbury, and other advocates have said restaurant workers are often reluctant to raise the issue of tip credits — let alone seek legal recourse in cases where employers don’t pay it.

“What we don’t do in other industries is allow employers to pay less than the minimum wage, and that’s where we really run into trouble here,” Kushner said. “If we guarantee one fair wage, then we are actually lifting the bottom, we’re closing that crack, and we’re making it possible for people to have a more stable existence.”

Advocates for eliminating the tipped minimum wage also often point to the historical origins of the system.

“The subminimum wage for tipped workers was a direct legacy of slavery,” Saru Jayaraman, president of the national One Fair Wage campaign, said at a 2022 press conference. “It was created after Emancipation to allow restaurants to hire newly freed Black people — Black women in particular — not pay them, and force them to live entirely on this new idea … called tips.”

What have opponents said about the bill?

Representatives from the restaurant industry argued that servers prefer the tipped-wage model as it is. A recent survey of servers and bartenders conducted by the Connecticut Restaurant Association found the average hourly wages for these positions, including tips, came out to more than twice the statewide minimum wage.

In a previous emailed statement, Scott Dolch, president of the Connecticut Restaurant Association, said, “If passed, this legislation would completely change how servers in Connecticut are paid, putting at risk a system that currently benefits thousands of servers, small business restaurant owners, and Connecticut’s local economy.” Dolch went on to say that if restaurants paid servers the full minimum wage, that could discourage patrons from tipping. “It would also give an inherent advantage to large national chains, harming Connecticut small businesses and resulting in less local choice for Connecticut consumers.”

What has Gov. Ned Lamont said about the bill?

Lamont has discussed the bill with Dolch. He said, “Scott makes a pretty strong case that the vast majority of servers get a lot more with tips than they do with just a guaranteed minimum wage.”

The governor said he will be meeting with advocates of the bill, who say tips should be income that restaurant workers get on top of the $15.69 minimum wage. 

Have other states eliminated tipped minimum wage?

All but seven states exempt tipped restaurant workers from their standard minimum wage, so long as the tips at least bring it up to the minimum wage. With tips, restaurants say wait staff can make more than $30 an hour.

But the One Fair Wage movement is gaining momentum nationally. Lawmakers in at least half a dozen states are considering legislation similar to Connecticut’s proposal, and several other states could see the issue come before voters on the ballot this year.