Catherwood LibraryILR School

Seattle Mayor, Ed Murray, is preparing a proposal to raise the city?s minimum wage unless the Income Inequality Advisory Committee that he appointed makes a proposal of their own. Unlike other parts of the country who are engaged in the debate over whether or not to raise the minimum wage, Seattleites are debating whom to include in such a raise and whether a raise in the hourly rate may actually mean making less, particularly for the city?s tipped workers. Many tipped workers in Seattle make much more than the proposed $15 per hour, but the majority do not as represented by a median hourly earnings of $13.70 as calculated by Puget Sound Sage, a local think-tank. The fear of local businesses and many of the workers in the city?s higher end restaurants and bars is that increasing the servers? and bartenders? hourly wage may signal to patrons that tipping less or not at all is acceptable and that increased labor costs may cost jobs. Proponents of including tipped workers say that tracking tips to ensure workers are paid at least the minimum wage is difficult and that it is even more difficult to force employers to gross-up or provide back pay when tips plus hourly wage is less than the minimum wage.