

“There’s a wide range of thought on this and advocates on different sides on this issue, particularly when you get to the IDD community. When asked, Kushner did not say whether Connecticut’s “One Fair Wage” bill would also encompass IDD workers or minors, who can be paid 85% of the minimum wage ($11.05) during the first 90 days of employment. 6364, aim to eliminate the subminimum wage authorized for employees with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Other groups in Connecticut receive less than $14 an hour without the opportunity for tips.Īt least two bills introduced in the State House of Representatives, H.B. “Most people are making really low wages because the tips just aren’t enough to live on.” I mean, people are really saying, ‘You know, I can’t afford to go work for the little money that I’m earning,'” Kushner said. She said that while it is true that some servers receive high-paying tips, others are struggling, and attitudes are shifting. Kushner however, feels that it’s time for the state to take a serious look at the tipped wage issue. “That’s really where we kind of differ from a lot of industries,” he said. Marcarelli believes the key to bringing staff back to restaurants is establishing a “great culture” and “finding ways to support staff.” Marcarelli implied that lawmakers’ efforts should instead be pointed toward making benefits, like health insurance and retirement plans more accessible to service workers. “You have servers that are certainly making well above $25 to $30, even $40 an hour and that’s in a four or five-hour period.”

“In most of the restaurants that I’ve seen, the servers and the bartenders are making more than the management,” Marcarelli said. Marcarelli said that servers and bartenders already earn “far beyond” the minimum wage. “I don’t think that the wage is going to bring those sorts of people back.” “A lot of people left the industry in general when the pandemic happened, and they just never came back and they never thought of coming back,” Marcarelli said. “This would require all the employers to do it and level the playing field.” “What’s happening now in the restaurant industry, and actually even in the fast food industry, is you’re seeing the wages already are rising above the minimum wage, and they have to do that to get employees,” Kushner said. Kushner suggested that the “One Fair Wage” proposal could help pull some businesses out of staffing-shortage slumps by standardizing a higher, more attractive pay. “I just saw a Facebook post the other day that somebody wasn’t able to, you know, open for three days because they didn’t have enough staff.” “There’s so many other issues that restaurant owners are dealing with right now,” Marcarelli said. Independent restaurant consultant Robert Marcarelli painted an equally grim picture of the realities facing the foodservice industry, describing a “flood” of restaurateurs looking to jump ship as continually rising food costs put new and decades-old establishments out of business. “With that backdrop, it’s extremely important for lawmakers to understand that what local restaurants and their employees need right now is stability and support – not complicated new laws and regulations that will make it even harder for restaurants to stay in business and keep Connecticut residents employed,” Dolch said. Kushner’s “One Fair Wage” proposal comes at a time when both employees and employers find that their dollars stretch far less than they used to.ĭolch explained that inflation, supply chain issues, and worker shortages continue to threaten restaurants in the post-COVID economy. Kushner said she has spoken to many servers who forgo such conversations because they fear retaliation on the job or even loss of employment. “If you are given repeatedly a slow shift and you’re not making the minimum wage, or even just one day, you don’t make the minimum wage, you have to go to your employer and assert yourself and say, ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t get enough in tips today, you now owe more money.'” “When you think about somebody who works in a busy restaurant, there are times when it’s busy and there’s a lot of turnover of tables, and then there’s times when it’s really slow,” Kushner told the Courant. Kushner argues that the law doesn’t always play out in practice.
AVERAGE BARTENDER SALARY WITH TIPS ORLANDO FL FULL
In today’s world of credit cards and point-of-sale systems, Dolch said that nearly every restaurant uses payroll to ensure full compliance with minimum wage requirements.
