Here's how the ballot measure could transform the DC restaurant scene
DC voters will soon decide whether to eliminate the tipped minimum wage. The ballot measure, dubbed Initiative 82, has the potential to transform the way restaurants operate, servers and bartenders are paid, and diners eat out. But we don’t blame you for finding it all confusing. So, here’s a primer:The minimum wage in DC is $16.10 an hour. But servers, bartenders, and other tipped workers have a lower minimum wage—$5.35 an hour—and make up the difference in gratuities, aka the “tip credit.
Saru Jayaraman, President of One Fair Wage. “Most tipped workers don’t work in fancy fine dining restaurants. The majority of tipped workers in DC are people of color and immigrants who actually work in very casual restaurants, and also nail salons, carwashes, parking attendants—so mostly low wage workers.”
Opponents say the initiative is trying to fix a problem that doesn’t exist; they say bartenders and servers typically make more than minimum wage already . Some predict a mass exodus of talent from the city if 82 passes. They also don’t believe systemic problems of discrimination and sexual harassment will be solved with one wage for all. As for enforcement issues? That’s something they’d like to see worked on separately, because everyone should already make minimum wage under the existing law.