"jmcquown" > wrote in message
...
> Kathy wrote:
>> A new twist on a well-worn subject - Senator Rick Santorum proposes to
>> remove all state requirements for a minimum wage for jobs in which
>> employees can expect tips. Restaurant owners could then "hire"
>> serving staff for nothing but the tips they hope to make. More info
>> on his bill he
>> http://www.nathannewman.org/laborblo...e/002263.shtml . If
>> you're not fond of the American custom of tipping, perhaps you'll let
>> him know your opinion on this idea.
>
> Unless something has changed (quite possible), restaurant owners already
> don't have to pay minimum wage to tipped employees. I never earned
> minimum
> wage when I worked as a server; the tips were expected (ha!) to make up
> the
> difference and then taxed based on my daily food sales figures regardless
> of
> whether I made that much in tips or not. The only time I made more than
> minimum wage in a restaurant setting was when I was working as a hostess
> and
> also handled the computer accounting stuff in the back of the house.
>
> Jill

See below:


http://www.restaurant.org/legal/law_minwage.cfm

Restaurants covered by federal minimum wage law (a.k.a. the Fair Labor
Standards Act, or FLSA) are required to pay hourly employees at least $5.15
an hour, and tipped employees a cash wage of at least $2.13 an hour.
You may be required to pay a rate higher than that, though. States are free
to set their own wage rates - and when they do, employers who are covered by
the FLSA must pay whichever rate, state or federal, is most favorable to the
employee.

*********************



One of the difficulties is the "tipped" employees usually "hide" some income
from the government for which the do not pay taxes. At the Palm in Calif.
the Mercedes in the parking lot belong to the waiters not the patrons. LOL.

Dimitri