Workers Will Lose Billions In Tips Under Trump Proposal: WA AG

WASHINGTON -- A Trump Administration proposal would allow employers to pocket tips, resulting in the loss of billions of dollars for low-wage workers, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said Monday.

Ferguson joined 16 other attorney generals in formally announcing their opposition to a proposal to rescind a 2011 rule that would allow business owners to have more control over the tips employees earn. As it stands now, the Fair Labor Standards Act only requires employees to share their money if it's shared among traditionally tipped workers.

Supporters of the proposal said it will benefit workers such as cooks and dishwashers who aren't traditionally tipped.

But, the attorney generals said the proposal would give employers the opportunity to pocket billions of dollars in tips. Citing the progressive group, Economic Policy Institute, they said employers could take up to $5.8 billion.

"The undersigned state attorneys general believe that the rescission of the 2011 regulations would be inconsistent with the long-established cultural and legal understanding of tips as the property of the employees who earn them and state laws reflecting those views," the letter said. "If implemented, the rescission would greatly harm millions of employees in the United States who depend on tips and would create the real potential for customers to be deceived as to whom will receive and benefit from their tips."

The letter went on to say, "The Department's proposed rulemaking contradicts centuries-old employee and
consumer expectations about tipping and threatens to seriously injure workers and deceive consumers. At present, tipped workers, regardless of how their base wage rate is calculated, are the lawful owners of tips and, with very limited exception, employers cannot partake in an employee's tips."

The Department of Labor estimates there are more than one million tipped servers, and more than 200,000 tipped bartenders across the U.S.

--Patch file photo