Connecticut lawmakers advanced a bill to give bartenders and restaurant servers a raise Tuesday, but could it actually cost them money instead?
Right now, most restaurant workers receive a base salary supplemented by gratuities. For servers, the “tipped wage” is $6.38 per hour. Bartenders’ base is slightly more at $8.23.
A new bill would ban “tipped wages” and require restaurants to pay all workers the state minimum wage, which is currently $14 per hour and jumps to $15 this summer. The legislature’s Labor and Public Employees Committee advanced the bill along party lines to the full General Assembly, where it has failed several times before.
Republicans argued the change could put family-owned restaurants out of business, while Democrats said better pay will address a severe shortage of servers.
As for wait staff, some are worried about losing money. Thanks to tips, the average server brings home $33 an hour, according to the Connecticut Restaurant Association. But if they get a raise, customers might get stingy.
“I was a waiter for years. When I was working four days a week, I was making $900 a week, plus my pay,” said Antoneos Kalmanidis, the head chef at Silver Star Diner. “If they hear that law goes out, you'd be amazed how many people stop tipping.”
But one national expert recently told lawmakers that hasn’t happened in other states that dropped “tipped wages.”
“These seven states have higher restaurant sales per capita, higher job growth in the restaurant industry,...
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