Servers & Minimum Wage Laws

Restaurants have good nights...and bad nights. Some servers make $100+ a shift, some make $12- a shift.

When I first started serving the wage per hour was $2.13, exactly half of minimum wage. ($5.25 an hour / 2 = $2.12.5 - Round up for the $0.00.5 = $2.13). Why has this not changed? The new minimum wage is now $5.85 an hour....yet server wage remains the same? I know paycheck-wise it wouldn't make much of a difference...but surely tax-wise at the end of the year it would. (An extra $0.30 {half of the minimum wage raise} an hour X a 6 hour shift = $1.80...now if you work 5 days a week that is $9.00 a week ... which is $468 a year).

All that aside, most servers must PAY the IRS at the end of the year due to tips. Wouldn't this extra $468 a year in wages help them out some? Shouldn't they get a pay increase as the federal minimum wage goes up? And how many restaurants ACTUALLY compensate them if they do not meet the $5.85 an hour minimum wage?? (I assume this is a per pay period deal)

"The federal minimum wage in the United States has been $5.85 per hour since July 24, 2007. Many states and municipalities have minimum wages higher than this (see List of U.S. state minimum wages), but some U.S. territories (such as American Samoa) are exempt. Some types of labor are also exempt, and tipped labor must be paid a minimum of $2.13 per hour, as long as the hourly wage plus tipped income result in a minimum of $5.85 per hour." - Wikipedia

"The last increase on July 24, 2007 was the first of three steps of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007. It was signed into law on May 25, 2007 as a rider to the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007. The act will raise the federal minimum wage twice more: to $6.55 per hour on July 24, 2008, and to $7.25 per hour on July 24, 2009. The bill also contains almost $5 billion in tax cuts for small businesses." - Wikipedia

This is ridiculous, as the FEDERAL MINIMUM WAGE changes, then so should the laws for tipped employee's be changed. What happens when the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour...servers still get $2.13....

*Sorry, just a late night rant, I have served and bartended for 13 years myself and still do not understand these laws. Tip your servers and bartenders well...they may have not even made minimum wage yet that night.

P.S. My math may be off as I have had a very long night at work, dang Christmas decorations, hehe.

-Scott

Hello Scott,
This just happen to be a hot topic just recently at my work and over thanksgiving dinner. Some say it will be going up, others skeptic. The server wage when I began was 1.96 in 1988. By 1990-2.01, 1991-2.13 and now the present, OVER 15 YEARS LATER...STILL IT STANDS @ 2.13! I am so glad to see this brought up more often. For it is true...one night is STEAK & POTATOES, where the next, is GRILLED CHEESE AND VEGETABLE SOUP. Something has got to give. The customers seem to be leaving adequate tips, but the buisness require so much help on the floor, there is just not enough to go around. In some of our establishments around town, the service bartender AND food runners make the same wage, which is just plain wrong. It leaves the Server tipping out at some times 15-20% required by the company for the server to give. These are companys that are not hurting, and can sure afford to pay for this "GOOD HELP" they get. Servers WORK HARD FOR THEIR MONEY. It takes a special personality to get out there, over and over, trying to please everyone in order to pay their bills. Multi-tasking at it's finest, and it would be nice to see more appreciation for the server from their company. and a good push from the government can't really hurt either.
Any politians out there care about that? Yeah right.

Restaurants have good nights...and bad nights. Some servers make $100+ a shift, some make $12- a shift.

And how many restaurants ACTUALLY compensate them if they do not meet the $5.85 an hour minimum wage?? (I assume this is a per pay period deal)

None, from my experience, though rarely in an entire pay period has that happened, but I do know they wouldn't pay it.

also- AMEN! Let's update that 15 year old wage...

It is not an option to refuse hourly compensation for insufficient tip income. Payrolll specialists have a flag for that sort of discrep. And just think of the amount of unclaimed tips by service personnel. Cmon, there's not alot of cheating by the employers as far as I've ever been able to tell.

None, from my experience, though rarely in an entire pay period has that happened, but I do know they wouldn't pay it.

also- AMEN! Let's update that 15 year old wage...

I have worked for at least one chain where the payroll processor automatically added money to the server's check if the $2.13 + tips didn't equal the minimum wage. The term was "tip wages." In nearly every case, though, it happened because whoever filled out the payroll form forgot to include the tips.

They have to legally.
The minimum wage for servers is the same $7.25 per hour. If the server does not claim enough in tips to bridge the gap the employer has to make up the difference.
I personally would not want the Government getting all fired up about this topic. Most good servers I know only claim what is required, not all of their tips. If you start a fire under Lady Liberty's skirt, Lord only knows what type of regulations would be put on the industry and ultimately the diner.
So Diner's take care of your servers.
Servers, if you aren't making more than minimum wage waiting tables you are either at the wrong location or it might not be your cup of tea. Servers are on commission.

Hey...I'm not getting into details, semantics or any of that, and yes, Kurt you're right it is a law. But I'm also saying that I know of several restaurants that don't follow that law...however most of the time, income is well over minimum wage...

The 2.13 per hour is not the server minimum wage. It is the Tip Credit. My servers on average make more per hour than most of our Kitchen staff. Servers are averaging close or over $15.00 per hour. So I believe most are being compensated way over the Minimum Wage. Remember TIPS are part of your compensation and thus the $2.13 per hour is the restaurants tip credit. Short of it is add your tips to the 2.13 and then divide by the number of hours worked you will obtain your average pay per hour. I have stop gaps in my payroll system that if a sever does not get any tips at all they will get 5.85 per hour. This usualy happens during training but can happen for some that only work one slow night a week. Hope this helps with a different perspective on this issue.