On the Labor Department’s Plan to Repeal Tipped Worker Protections

Following is a statement from Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project:

“Tips belong to the workers who have earned them—period.  Siding once again with business and corporations over workers, the Trump administration has signaled that it intends to change the rules that have long protected the tips that workers receive for the service they provide.

“The Trump Labor Department may say that it’s taking away this protection to let some employers redistribute tips freely to all employees, regardless of whether they are tipped workers or not.  But if companies have trouble retaining non-tipped workers because their pay is so bad, then the solution is for the companies to raise their wages, not to essentially steal what tipped workers take home at the end of the day.

“Worse, this rule would take away all federal protections on tips, letting some employers pocket a portion, too.  The Labor Department and the National Restaurant Association can dress this up any way they want to, but ultimately, this rule change is nothing more than robber barons masquerading as Robin Hood—not to mention that it absolves employers of their responsibility to fairly and adequately pay their employees.

“Again, tips belong to workers—period.  Giving them over to employers is just one more way this administration plans to betray working people.”

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