Audio By Carbonatix
In the last ten years, the minimum wage for tipped workers in Denver has more than tripled and the resulting increase in labor cost has played a major factor in the closure of many local restaurants. Now, state lawmakers are considering a bill that would roll back those increases.
If made law, House Bill 1208 would change regulations around tipped wages in municipalities with a higher minimum wage than the rest of the state, including Denver. This would effectively make the hourly minimum wage for tipped workers the same statewide, at least temporarily.
Denver's hourly minimum wage is $15.79 for tipped employees like servers and bartenders. Under the proposed bill, it would decrease to $11.79, which is the current statewide minimum wage for tipped workers. However, if workers don't earn enough tips to reach the city's regular minimum wage of $18.81, employers would still need to pay the difference, as is current law.
Proponents say the $4 drop in base hourly wages could make or break Denver restaurants.
"Right now we’re just trying to stop the bleeding in the cities that are the most desperate," says Sonia Riggs, president and CEO of the Colorado Restaurant Association (CRA). "It's been death by a thousand cuts for restaurants. This is the final...
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