Tipped Employee Protection Act
Floor Speech
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Mrs. McBATH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding me time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to fight for some of the most overworked and underpaid people in our country to ensure that the money that they work so hard for goes to them and their families, not to someone who didn't work for it.
The true purpose of this bill is not to protect tipped employees. The true purpose is to make it easier to pay people less for their work and to pay them less than $7.25 an hour.
This bill allows employers to classify anyone who may receive a seasonal or random tip as a tipped employee, meaning they can now be paid below minimum wage by their employer. Those tips should be in addition to a worker's wage.
Employers should not be able to pay their workers less because that worker happened to receive a Christmas bonus or an occasional tip from a customer, but that is exactly what this bill would do.
This bill flies directly in the face of President Trump's campaign promise to help tipped workers. What good is no tax on tips if you have to give those tips directly to your boss so that they can take it out of your base pay?
When someone pays taxes, they at least get something in return. Like many Americans, I do not think that the average person sees the benefit that they really should for what they pay in taxes. That is because the Republican majority chooses to spend the American people's money on tax breaks for billionaires instead of spending it on our kids, and instead of spending it on childcare, housing, healthcare, on things that really make people's lives far more affordable.
What is the worker getting in return in this situation? It is just the opportunity to work. I think the American people agree that their employers should be paying them to work and not the other way around.
No worker in this country should be paid this low. I don't care who they are. Many States have raised their minimum wages. Unfortunately, my State of Georgia has not. Without the Federal floor of $7.25, workers in Georgia could legally be paid just over $5 an hour because our State minimum wage is just $5.15. Who can live on that?
Instead of trying to find ways to pay people as little as possible, this body, Congress, should be raising the wages and helping Americans keep more of their hard-earned dollars in their pocket, the money that they worked so hard for.
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Mrs. McBATH. Mr. Speaker, before I came to this body, I was a flight attendant for a national air carrier. The money that I am making today is far more than I ever made as a contract employee for an airline.
Mr. Speaker, I will tell you that during the hard, 16-hour days that I had, much like what I have here, we weren't allowed to receive any tips. We weren't allowed to receive any of those kinds of benefits. Basically, if we did, if someone really, really pushed a tip on us, we would spread it among our crew. It was the right thing to do because in the airline industry, there is a cap on what you can make. There is a cap on your salary.
Mr. Speaker, having been a contract employee and having done all of that before I came here, I am so grateful every time I come across an individual in the customer service industry who has really done a good job. Paying them tips is the least that we can do to make sure that they are honored for their service.
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