The Trump Labor Department’s plan to allow restaurant owners and managers to steal workers’ tips will be dead if the omnibus spending bill, which has passed the House, becomes law. Specifically:
The language inserted in the spending bill would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to forbid employers from steering tip money toward owners, managers or supervisors, requiring that it stay among non-management employees. It would also allow workers to sue to recover stolen tips and win added damages. [...]
While the deal arranged by Murray would nix the most controversial piece of the tip rule proposal, it would leave the rest of it more or less intact. If implemented, the rule would allow employers to force front-of-the-house employees to share their gratuities with workers in the back, so long as the employer paid the full minimum wage, rather than the reduced, “tipped minimum wage.” President Barack Obama’s administration had banned the practice under any circumstances.
Worker advocacy groups like the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United and the National Employment Law Project are hailing this as a victory, with ROC president and co-founder Saru Jayaraman saying “Today represents a historic victory for restaurant workers,” and noting that “Protecting workers’ tips from managerial tip theft would also protect a mostly female workforce from exacerbated sexual harassment.” Some Democrats, though, were critical of the proposal for allowing employers to mandate any form of tip-sharing.
The spending bill still has to pass the Senate and be signed by Donald Trump.