One discussion during the hike today had to do with tips and minimum wage. I asserted that California does *not* allow paying servers less than minimum wage, even if they receive tips, and that this was fairly unusual. Just checked: California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Nevada all require payment of full state minimum wage...
Amir
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(and for California, Oregon and Washington that wage is at least $9/hour, a little higher in OR and WA). Montana and Minnesota have or will have *something* similar, but both allow smaller businesses to pay less. Just an interesting factoid...
- walt crawford
Nevada I assume it's because it's a got incredibly strong service industry unions. Don't know about the rest.
- laura x
It's one of the reasons I was so surprised that it wasn't that way everywhere else - the only places I've waitressed were in WA. While there is a strong union presence, it's also just a fairly liberal place.
- Jennifer Dittrich
Minnesota does not have "tip credit" does not allow sub-minimum wage for tipped workers. Hotly debated and may change in future - Gov sons own hugely successful restaurant in Minneapolis and are lobbying him to cut mandated wages for tipped workers... FEDERAL minimum wage does allow tip credit deduction
- WarLord
I'd say OR and WA for the reasons Jennifer does, and CA is liberal in many ways--and the unions aren't invisible here. The fact that all three have $9 or higher minimum wage says *something*... Yes, the Federal minimum wage, awful as it is anyway, can be as low as $2.30/hour with tip deduction! (I checked a Fed site for these facts)
- walt crawford
Oops. Make the Fed number $2.13/hour. Here's the site: http://www.dol.gov/whd...
- walt crawford
Fortunately, the Feds don't say "and states can't treat workers any less shabbily than we do."
- walt crawford