Tipped Employee Protection Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, once again, my Republican colleagues are selling Americans on a bill with a flashy title and hoping that they don't read the fine print.

The so-called Tipped Employee Protection Act implies that something in this bill might actually benefit workers who work for tips. In reality, this bill manipulates labor law to decrease employees' earning power and allow employers to skirt minimum wage requirements.

Mr. Speaker, I was a high school English teacher, and I taught my students about irony. This bill is more aptly titled the Republican invent new ways to pay workers less bill.

Here is a closer look at the bill. For jobs like waiting tables, which regularly generate a large proportion of pay from tips, employers may pay their employees a small portion of the minimum wage, a mere $2.13 an hour, as long as what they normally make in tips makes up the rest.

Mr. Speaker, this bill, however, opens the opportunity for employers to manipulate FLSA definitions and classify other workers who receive tips only sometimes to also be paid a subminimum wage.

Under this bill, hotel housekeepers, valets, manicurists, and other workers could see their tips used to offset what their employers owe them, rather than serving as an occasional boost in take-home pay for a job well done.

In short, it expands the subminimum wage and offers more opportunities to pay workers less. As I said, we should really call this bill the Republican invent new ways to pay workers less bill.

No responsible policymaker should be arguing that Americans should be making less. People in this country are feeling serious financial strain as the cost of living soars and wages remain stagnant.

Everything is more expensive, and here we are, debating a proposal that would allow employers to pay people less than what they earned so employers can save a few dollars on the hour. Shame on this majority.

Once again, this Republican proposal to stimulate the economy relies on Americans in the lowest income brackets getting squeezed the most.

Mr. Speaker, we need to eliminate the subminimum wage entirely and make sure that Americans make enough money to live with dignity and not invent new ways to pay Americans less. I encourage my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this bill.

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