Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown along with 23 other U.S. senators have sent a letter to the U.S. Department Labor in opposition to a proposed rule that would change a rule on tipping workers.
The change would allow employers to keep the employees’ tips as long as they were paid the federal minimum wage.
This is a revision to a rule established in 2011 in which restaurant owners could require tipped employees to pull their tips into a pool of money which affected servers, bartenders, and bussers, according to a Dayton Daily News article.
Brown and other senators that oppose the change say that it would take money out of the pockets of low wage workers, according to Dayton Daily.
Currently, employers in Ohio can pay their employees as low as $4.15 an hour if that person earns tips. Employees are allowed to keep the tips they earn.
The National Restaurant Association has launched a lawsuit against the proposed change to the 2011 rule, according to Dayton Daily.
17 state attorney generals are working together to oppose the rule change, according to a report from the Chicago Tribune.
“The Department of Labor’s proposal is outrageous,” said Lisa Madigan, Illinois attorney general in the Chicago Tribune article. “Not only do workers deserve the money they have earned for the service they provided, but millions of customers who leave tips expect that money to go to the employee who helped them.”
Those that support the rule say that the sharing of tips is intended to provide for everyone who is involved in customer service, according to Dayton Daily.
