Ballot question #5 question [Massachusetts]

Regional Dining Discussions Boston, New England
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My fellow GBA/MA Onions, I am having a lot of trouble making up my mind about ballot question #5 (minimum wage for tipped workers). I’ve read the balanced white paper from Tufts CSPA, the cutesy Globe interactive piece, and other Op-Ed pieces in the Globe. (I found it interesting that the Globe has made recommendations on all but this question, maybe because it’s a particularly vexing one?)

Not asking which way anyone is voting, but I’m seeking other good sources of information to help me make up my mind. Thanks!

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Feel free to ignore the view of a European who has no dog in this fight. It will probably be of no surprise that I support the way of remunerating restaurant workers that we have in all European countries I know (including the one where I’m from and live). In the UK, we do not discriminate between workers who might receive tips and those who don’t. Minimum wage is minimum wage. In fact, for many restaurant servers, theirs’ is not a minimum wage job (although it is often not much more. The distribution of cash tips or a share of service charge is a matter between employer and employees, as any other condition of service would be.

I read the Tufts CSPA article that you linked to, with interest. It seems as though the trend is slowly moving away from treating servers as second class citizens in this respect, so the proposal in MA seems to be in line with current thinking in society. I also noted that it appears that workers are financially better off under proper minimum wage arrangements - which seems to be probably the strongest argument in favour of change.

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I’m struggling with this question (as well as Q2, but that’s not food related). We just got the state’s guide in the mail and it’s online as well.

Of the restaurants that we’ve been to recently, some have signs up saying they support a NO vote and some are silent - but none I‘ve seen say YES. Additionally, there have been a few posts in a local foodie Facebook group (Chew On This) where local restaurant owners and staff say no. I figure if these are the folks most closely affected by the issue, they’re probably the ones I should listen to the most.

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I’m also struggling with Q2.

All the servers who work at the pub at the end of our street individually have told me they will vote no. The owners are supporting no so I thought it was important to talk to the staff one on one. This is one of those independently owned neighborhood pubs that serve not great food and have had to increase their prices just like all restaurants have. We’ve lived here since 2002 and I want to support them.

If their prediction that they’d make a lot less money if it passes comes true, it will be even more difficult for restaurants to find staff and even more restaurants will close.

Others are claiming servers would be better off with the change. Whether or not consumers will stop tipping altogether or tip less with the change is unknown.

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From a friend in the industry / The TL;DR version: VOTE NO.

" This November, Massachusetts will have a ballot initiative up for a vote that would require restaurants to pay tipped employees minimum wage($15/hr in MA.) Sounds good for the employee, right? Unfortunately, this move would have devastating effects on the industry and be especially bad for servers and bartenders.

Right away, many restaurants would have to close. The profit margins of even the most successful restaurants are extremely slim, and increasing this cost of doing business by 2.25X will be prohibitive. Even if they don’t shut down, restaurants will have to scale back the staffing, which will cut hours for employees. Many restaurants may choose to explore automation of service. All of these factors cost the tipped employee money.

Guests will adjust their tipping practices when they know that servers are making minimum wage. With fewer servers on at any given time, service will be slower, and tips, if they are given, are likely to reflect that.

The law, if passed, will give the restaurants the option of enacting a tip pool to share tips among all workers at the restaurant.

In Massachusetts, tipped employees have strong protections from the law. Employers are required to make up the difference to minimum wage($15/hr) if a server/bartender does not earn it in tips. The vast majority of tipped employees make far more than minimum wage in tips each night, but they are guaranteed by law to make at least that much.

“Sidework” rules require that employers pay minimum wage for any non-tipped tasks that exceed 30 minutes. State law also requires that if you get sent home early because it is slow, your employer is required to pay you for at least 3 hours at minimum wage.

There are indeed uncertainties in working as a tipped employee. Everyone I know who does this type of work is willing to take those chances for the usually large return on a relatively short number of working hours, the flexibility to move and commit to other interests, and the high energy, fun working conditions. If you are voting in Massachusetts this November, please support your servers and bartenders and Vote NO on 5."

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it is a fact that tipped workers get the same local/state/Federal minimum wage per hour worked as all other hourly employees. the oft recited fallacy that wait staff are only paid $2.73 and hour is simply not true.

if they don’t, the employer must make up the difference.

so, the actual question is: should waitstaff be paid more than they currently earn -
i.e. a higher minimum wage plus tips.

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As of Jan.1, 2023 tipped employees must be paid a minimum of $6.75 per hour provided that their tips bring them up to at least $15 per hour. If the total hourly rate for the employee including tips does not equal $15 at the end of the shift, the employer must make up the difference.

So tipped employees can be paid less than the non-tipped $15 but the customers or the employer must make up the difference.

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However, if the higher minimum wage passes, it is entirely possible that some or many people will tip lower amounts, and that many servers will end up getting more less than they currently earn.

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that’s what happened to a number of “high end / famous” places that went to “a living wage and no tips”

they lost part/some/all of their best waitstaff who abruptly got pay cuts, quit and signed on in places still doing tips…

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The tipping culture is so ingrained in the US that I doubt it. Here in California there is often a 3-7% (depending on city/county) “health care” fee added on your bill and people still tip 20%+

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I was going to write that very statement in response to @Harters. Tipping is so American, it’s going to be a hard habit to break (at least for me).

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It is such a complicated issue that it is really hard to decide. … . . so many unknowns and assumptions about what it “will do” to the industry and its workers. . . .

As someone who really dislikes our (USA) tipping culture and think it’s gotten way out of hand with the pandemic . . . I’m all for mandating a minimum wage as a step towards hopefully changing our tipping culture. I don’t know if will really move the needle but I’m willing to see . . . .

(yes I tip well, no I don’t like it. Yes I think good servers should be paid more, no I don’t think that is up to me, the customer, to figure out - talk to your employer. Yes I agree (as stated above) that our tipping culture is so ingrained but I’m for moving that needle. Agree (as stated above) that people don’t understand that servers don’t “actually make less than minimum wage” since their employer has to make up the difference, I think something like this would at least help with changing that mental misconception.)

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and CA has raised the minimum wage significantly - and it’s scheduled to go higher - so the question is, how much money is considered decent pay for waitstaff?
we were in SF, all bills came with a healthcare surcharge, a plastic waste surcharge and a ‘kitchen contribution’ surcharge - and you are expect to tip 20-30% based on the meal + taxes + surcharges? when I learned all waitstaff were already at $15/hr, got 100% of their tips, no sharing - by law - plus all the surcharges . . . my tipping dropped to 10% max.

this will vary by area - waitstaff in San Fran / NYC / Washington DC / etc need $500,000 a year just to rent an efficiency apartment . . . okay, slight exaggeration but . . .

it’s just like mega-rates for fast food workers. making/wrapping burgers and lifting a basket out of the deep fryer when the timer rings . . . is a career path?
for those who aspire to / attain “management” I can see the need for decent pay. but for entry level part time no-skills-required . . .

I do not tip on a total of tax and surcharges - not gonna’ happen.

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The general expectation is to tip 15-25% on the bill before taxes and surcharges. There is an ongoing debate here in California if customers should include the surcharges as part of their tip in their calculations (we are also not really consistent ourselves with it but often include it (at least partially) in our tip (not going to tip 25%+ in a restaurant)

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I will keep tipping at the same rate regardless, but at the independent Boston neighborhood pub I was speaking about, very far from high end but convenient and we love the servers, we are told that many customers tip low end (10%) now.

The restaurants you write about here on HO in the Bay Area are much higher end than we want to spend, and I couldn’t eat even 1/4 of the tasting menus anyway. So you and I are talking about very different kinds of restaurants.

It’s our neighborhood pub kind of mid-range independent restaurant whose servers and owners are likely to suffer a lot with the change. We can easily walk half a block there in a blizzard and just pop in to get out of the house when necessary, and we want them to survive.

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I can provide dozens of scanned tabs where the resto ‘suggested tip’ amount is based on meal + taxes + fees + surcharges . . .
I’m waiting for a resto to calculate their suggested tip amount on all of the above plus their minimum tip ‘consideration’ - tipping on the tipped amount . . .

they need to cancel their software - or demand the ability to calculate the 15-18-20-25-30-40% tip suggestion on reality.

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I am not only talking about restaurant we visited regularly but those visited from friends and co-workers who visit an even bigger “spread” of restaurant types including many “neighborhood” places. We often talk about those places including tipping and I think nobody here tips anywhere below 15%. Not saying your example doesn’t happen but I am not sure if it is more of an outlier

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But who is using the suggested tip from a restaurant (as they obviously want to maximize their profit) - I don’t care what they suggest as it is really not that difficult to calculate in 3 seconds the tip pre-tax etc.

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given the arithmetic capabilities of the average recent US high school ‘sorta’ graduate’ - the premise than one can recognize, deny and recalculate a tip . . . is questionable.

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But that isn’t the fault of the restaurant and calculating 15 or 20% shouldn’t really be a problem