With the second attempt to raise the wages of tipped workers underway, a complication related to the 2018 Initiative 77 repeal bill could have big consequences for local businesses.
The issue stems from the back-and-forth over Initiative 77, a 2018 ballot measure to eliminate the tipped minimum wage, which is currently $5.35 per hour. The initiative was approved by voters, then repealed by the D.C. Council, and replaced with a different piece of legislation intended to assuage concerns from Initiative 77 advocates and prevent wage theft: the Tipped Wage Workers Fairness Amendment Act of 2018. Among other things, the law requires payroll companies to report certain wage data to the Department of Employment Services on a quarterly basis, aimed to help the agency spot employers who fail to make up the difference if a worker’s tips plus their base pay (or tipped minimum wage) don’t add up to the full minimum wage, which is currently set at $16.10 per hour.
The 2018 law is not yet fully funded and, as a result, the National Payroll Reporting Consortium says DOES has not yet required these more detailed reports from payroll companies. Once enforcement kicks in, however, the consortium said to the Council’s labor committee over the summer, and through an attorney more recently, that some members will no longer service D.C. employers because the new reporting requirements are too complex.
“Current payroll companies would abandon the D.C. market,” said David Julyan, the lawyer...
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