Tipped Workers Call for Higher Wages in New York
Tipped Workers Call for Higher Wages in New York
Advocates are asking Albany to eliminate the sub-minimum wage for tipped employees in New York State.
Klein says tips are supposed to make up the difference between tipped workers' minimum wage and the regular minimum wage of $8.00 an hour. But she says for many low-wage workers, that's certainly not the case.
"For example, they can't buy toys for their children or they have to choose between buying gas or paying the rent," Klein says. "And because they're making a sub-minimum wage and then tips are so unstable, it leaves low-wage workers at any even more precarious situation
Klein and other advocates are calling on Albany to create a uniform minimum wage all New Yorkers.
But the New York Restaurant Association says this is unnecessary as employers already make up the difference if any of their tipped workers make below the regular minimum wage.
