October 27, 2023

One Fair Wage Used to Promote Service Charges…What Happened?

In recent attempts to eliminate tip credits in Chicago and several Maryland counties, One Fair Wage president Saru Jayaraman vilified restaurants who chose to use service charges as a way to the rising costs associated with tip credit elimination. It turns out, One Fair Wage once endorsed service charges as…
October 20, 2023

New $15 Minimum Wage Ballot Proposal Would Kill 44,000 Michigan Jobs

Anti-tipping activist group One Fair Wage announced it submitted enough signatures to qualify a measure that would create a $15 minimum wage and fully eliminate the state’s tip credit. If certified and approved on the ballot in November 2024, this measure would increase the state’s current tipped minimum wage by…
October 13, 2023

Serving Up the Truth Behind Service Charges on Your Check

Ever since tip credit elimination proposals have been introduced in states and cities across the country, customers everywhere are noticing more and more fees added to their dining bills. But what exactly are service charges? Are they the same as tips? Do they go to your restaurant server or bartender?…
October 6, 2023

EPI Debunks Bogus One Fair Wage List of Montgomery County Restaurants Paying Flat Hourly Wage

One Fair Wage has deployed in Montgomery County, Maryland to attempt what they failed to do statewide: eliminate the county’s tip credit at the expense of thousands of tipped restaurant employees. Without the economic data on their side, One Fair Wage has resorted to misleading lawmakers and the public…
Massachusetts September 29, 2023

Unprecedented $20 Minimum Wage Would Slash Thousands of Massachusetts Jobs

This week, the Massachusetts’ legislature’s Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development held a hearing on several bills that would be devastating for the Commonwealth’s small businesses and their employees. The Committee heard public testimony on S.1200 and H.1925 that would raise the state minimum wage from…
September 22, 2023

Despite Advancing Bill, Chicago Employees Speak Out Against Tip Credit Elimination

This week, the Chicago City Council’s Workforce Development Committee voted to advance a proposal that would eliminate the tip credit city wide. This policy has played out disastrously across the country, costing employees their jobs and tips, and even forcing restaurants to shut down. Michael Saltsman, executive director of the…
September 15, 2023

Wisconsin Lawmakers Should Be Wary of Tip Credit Elimination Consequences

Last week, Wisconsin Sen. Chris Larson and Rep. Francesca Hong announced they would reintroduce a 2021 proposal to eliminate Wisconsin’s tip credit. This proposal would raise the tipped minimum wage more than 200 percent. But based on both Larson and Hong’s support for as high as a $15 minimum…
September 8, 2023

What’s The Real Word on Tipping At Restaurants?

Recently, there has been an inundation of headlines claiming Americans have “tipping fatigue.” Activists have capitalized on this message saying American states and cities should get rid of tipping everywhere. But generalized messaging and misleading poll language have led many Americans to conflate tipping in non-service situations with tipping in…
Illinois September 1, 2023

Survey Finds Tip Credit Elimination Harms Chicago’s Restaurants and Employees

Chicago’s tipped minimum wage has been on the rise for years, leaving declining restaurant employment growth in its aftermath. Yet in the last city council meeting, Chicago aldermen proposed legislation to scrap the Windy City’s tip credit completely. A similar move is already playing out poorly in the District…
August 25, 2023

Unions Demand GOP Candidates Support Job-Killing Wage Hikes

Ahead of the first Republican presidential primary debate, organizers with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Fight for $15 are threatening to protest the venue. Yet the Fight for $15’s namesake policy to raise minimum wages has drawn bipartisan opposition and would cause significant job loss and earnings loss…