WorkforceThe pension funds for New York state and New York City have joined calls for the companies to study the impact of higher wages. The moves are being backed by advocacy group One Fair Wage.
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A group of shareholders is calling on Denny’s and Dine Brands to study the impact of raising hourly wages.
Specifically, the shareholders want the two companies to look at paying restaurant staff the full minimum wage, plus tips, in essence skirting the tip credit rule that allows employers to factor gratuities into employees’ hourly wages.
The push began last month when the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica and the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary submitted proposals highlighting the benefits of the minimum wage. They argue that the federally mandated $2.13 hourly wage for tipped workers has led to poverty, sexual harassment and racial inequality. They want companies to study and report back on what would happen if they increased base pay to the federal minimum with tips on top.
The faith organizations own more than $2,000 of stock in Denny’s and Dine, respectively. Their actions are backed by One Fair Wage, a national group supported by the Service Employees International Union that has pushed aggressively for an end to the tip credit.
Their efforts were endorsed Thursday by a pair of considerably larger shareholders: the pension funds of New York state and New York City. The state fund owns $1 million in Dine shares and $800,000...
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