Florida minimum wage inches up, By Tim Engstrom, December 18, 2011, News-Press: “Florida’s lowest-paid workers will get a raise on Jan. 1 with an increased Florida minimum wage, but local employers say most workers – except tipped employees like restaurant servers – won’t notice because they already earn more. Florida’s minimum hourly wage will jump 4.9 percent to $7.67 an hour. That becomes an extra $14.40 for a 40-hour week for a total gross pay of $306.80 for the week. That adds up to annual pay of $15,953.60. The minimum hourly wage for tipped employees jumps to $4.65…”
Tag: Tipped employees
State Minimum Wage – Maryland
Minimum wage debate gains momentum in Md., By Lorraine Mirabella, April 10, 2011, Baltimore Sun: “Bridget Highkin works as hard now as she did two years ago. But then she brought home $800 a week from her waitressing job and today she’s lucky to clear $300. For now – until she completes a part-time nursing program and can find a job as a nurse – financial relief for her family hinges on a proposal to increase Maryland’s hourly minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.75 over three years. A few more dollars an hour would allow her to stop receiving assistance for day care and food, Highkin says. ‘I live just under paycheck to paycheck,’ said Highkin, 25, who works at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Bel Air and is a single mother of two. ‘At the end of each week, I’m scraping together my last pennies in hopes that the next week I can do it again.’ Proponents of the minimum wage increase see momentum growing in its favor. Though proposed legislation has gone nowhere in the General Assembly session that ends Monday, backers say they have built support for another try next year. They also say low wages are dragging down not only individuals and their families but the broader economic recovery…”
Minimum Wage and Tipped Employees – Indiana
Wage for Ind. servers among the lowest in the US, By Dana Hunsinger Benbow, April 8, 2011, Indianapolis Star: “Customers ask for ice water with lemon. And then more lemons. Oh, yes. Some sugar, too, please. They ask to split a meal – half the sandwich with mayonnaise and tomato, the other with mustard and onion. Make that a Caesar salad on one plate and fries, no salt, on the other. When it’s all said and done and the meal is over, waiter Thomas Ievoli said he’s at his tipping point. Unfortunately, his customers aren’t. ‘People are expecting more service and paying less for it,’ said Ievoli, a server at Old Pointe Tavern and a bartender at Lockerbie Pub. ‘They do all kinds of special requests. They will sit there forever. They special-order and then tip you 10 percent – if not less.’ In the economic downturn, lower tips have made it tough for waiters and bartenders to survive. In Indiana, it’s especially tough because it, along with 17 other states, has the lowest minimum wage for people who depend on tips in the nation: the federal standard of $2.13 an hour. While the federal minimum wage has steadily increased over the years to $7.25 an hour, the $2.13 mark for tipped employees has remained in place since 1991…”