Mandate all employers to pay workers minimum wage; prohibit tipping.
Tipping in the United States has become the primary way that many workers earn wages. Some businesses pay enployees below the federal minimum wage, and delegate their duty to pay at least minimum wage over to their customers, who already pay inflated prices for products and services. The custom of tipping has grown to the point where cashiers at fast food restaurants ask for tips, and customers receiving delivery services are being harassed and intimidated at their homes for not paying a worker’s income. This duty should be on the employers, not customers.
Tipping originates from discrimination after slavery was abolished, when businesses refused to pay a minimum wage to non-white workers, directly placing the duty of paying employees to customers.
This is an outdated and expensive burden for customers to pay businesses’ workers, who are entitled to a proper minimum wage that is equal to or greater than the federal or state minimum wage, as amended.
All employers should be mandated to comply with federal and state minimum wage laws, and ban tipping as the main income for millions of workers who deserve to be paid fairly by the businesses that hire them.
It is not sufficient to eliminate taxes on tips. All workers deserve to be paid a fair wage by their employers, so that there is no necessity for customers to tip at all.
Yes, and as a matter of fact, not only are the costs of products and services generating revenue for the businesses’ operations costs, but it also goes to their payroll. This is another reason employers should be required to pay a fair wage to workers and not pass additional charges to customers in the form of tipping.
Then why is, for example, McDonald’s more expensive now than five years ago – even though their workers are not tipped and are paid federal or state minimum wage or more – yet they’re less expensive than businesses that have below minimum wage workers who depend on tips? Depending on tipping and avoiding paying minimum wage as a standard, has not proven to push nor keep prices low for consumers.
The most fair solution is to pay workers the federal or state minimum wage.