Annapolis, Md.– The current minimum wage in paychecks for tipped workers in Maryland stands at $3.63 per hour, but activists are pushing for a bill that would increase that to $15 an hour, matching the state minimum wage.
If enacted, Maryland would follow California and other states that require employers to pay tipped employees the full state minimum wage whenever they issue a paycheck, regardless of how much the workers make in tips. Activists argue it's not only fair, but would also result in better service for customers and business owners.
Del. Linda Foley, D-Montgomery County, serves One Fair Wage supporters at O'Brien's Oyster Bar and Seafood Tavern in Annapolis, during the Server for an Hour event.
"If there's better wages, there's better tips and better service," said Estefania Galvis, the National Organizing Director of One Fair Wage, an advocacy group pushing for the change in Maryland.
But activists have been pushing for such a change in Maryland for years now, and some restaurant owners say it's time to let it drop.
Maryland restaurant employees are already guaranteed by law to earn the full minimum wage, said Melvin Thompson, senior vice president for government affairs at the Restaurant Association of Maryland.
Employers are required to make up any deficiencies in an employee's check if that person doesn't earn enough in tips for the workweek, Thompson told Capital News Service in an email.
The association refers to the difference between the minimum base wage and the full applicable minimum wage as the "tip credit."
"Restaurant tipped employees are guaranteed by law to earn at least the minimum wage," Thompson said, "and most earn significantly more with tips included."
Thompson also said customers would be unlikely to tip on top of the service charges that many restaurants would include.
"There would be no incentive for servers to provide the best possible customer service because they would no longer be rewarded with tips," he said.
Some local restaurant workers agree with the restaurant association. They say they don't want to see the system change because of the increase in food prices that might follow.
The additional service charge would cause problems, said Kenny Pemleton, the assistant general manager of the Iron Rooster restaurant in Annapolis.
"There's going to be repercussions," Pemleton told CNS. "If you want to pay these industry workers more you're going to have to pay more to eat here."
One Fair Wage is still pushing for the change. They've gathered around the State House building in their signature highlighter pink hats and shirts this session, cheering on the lawmakers who support their cause. And OFW members showed several of those lawmakers how to wait tables at the O'Brien's Oyster Bar and Seafood Tavern in Annapolis on one recent session day.
The bill OFW is supporting, Senate Bill 160, would prohibit employers from including a tip credit amount as part of employees' wages.
The measure would make wages more dependable for servers, bartenders and other tipped workers, Galvis said.
"When wages are more stable, you're in a better mood at work," Galvis said. "It creates better working conditions."
That's especially important now that service workers are so hard to find, advocates say.
"There is a great resignation," said Galvis. "A bunch of people are not coming back to the industry, who don't want these jobs."
According to an analysis conducted by One Fair Wage, small businesses in Maryland are struggling to find staff. And during the pandemic the workers reported that their tips decreased, the group found.
A supporter from Jacksonville, Fla., Ender Alders, said that while working as a server his biggest worry was having enough money for rent.
"You couldn't really measure if I was going to make my rent the next time I was working," he said. "You're just surviving off of the goodwill of people instead of actually having a normal paycheck."
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