Scott Statement on DOL’s Proposed Tip Rule
WASHINGTON – Chairman Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Department of Labor proposed a new tip rule that would codify the Trump administration’s repeal of the long-standing 80/20 rule, which prohibits employers from paying the tipped subminimum wage to workers that spend more than 20 percent of their time performing tasks where they cannot earn tips.
“The 80/20 rule helps prevent employers from paying workers the tipped subminimum wage for doing non-tipped work, which does not provide them ample opportunity to earn tips. The Department of Labor’s proposal to codify the repeal of the 80/20 rule will strip tipped workers of an important protection against wage theft.
“Through error or outright wage theft, employers frequently fail to ensure that tipped workers make the full minimum wage when their tips are insufficient. Today’s decision takes leverage away from a vulnerable group of workers while empowering bad-faith employers to take advantage of their employees. Rather than repealing this guidance, employers and tipped workers would be better served by phasing out the tipped subminimum wage, as the House of Representatives did when it passed the Raise the Wage Act earlier this year.
“Unfortunately, once again, the Department issued a proposal without conducting a thorough analysis of what the proposal would cost tipped workers.”
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