BOSTON — Attorney General Maura Healey today praised the U.S. Department of Labor’s (USDOL) new Tip Regulation, ending a lawsuit that was filed by nine attorneys general and ending the fight to overturn the Trump Administration’s harmful rule.
For decades, tipped workers had been protected by USDOL guidance that said they could not legally be paid the lower tipped minimum wage rate if more than 20 percent of their work time was spent doing non-tipped work. The USDOL rule enacted by the Trump Administration eliminated this guidance and allowed employers to assign non-tipped work such as preparing food, setting tables, and cleaning to tipped employees while still taking a tip credit. As such, the rule allowed employers to spread thin tips and lower servers’ average incomes. In January 2021, AG Healey joined a coalition of attorneys general in legally challenging the Trump-era rule.
“All this rule did was make it more difficult for workers to earn a living wage in the midst of an economic crisis – it was illegal and cruel for so many struggling to get by during the pandemic,” said AG Healey. “We welcome the Department of Labor’s new workplace protections and will continue to advocate for the fair treatment and protection of tipped employees.”
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is the federal law establishing a baseline of critical workplace protections, such as minimum wage and overtime, for workers across the country. It permits employers to take a credit against their...
(The Lion) — A Senate Democrat has proposed a bill to repeal the federal Education Freedom Tax Credit, which passed in President Donald Trump’s budget bill last year. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, m...