Tipped Employee Protection Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. BAUMGARTNER. Mr. Speaker, my voters and my constituents sent me here to help solve problems, to help small business, to help employees, and to help grow the economy. As such, I am proud to support the Tipped Employee Protection Act. This important bill will help codify changes we are making in Congress to help tip the scales in favor of our service workers and waitresses.
Current Fair Labor Standards Act rules define tipped work as someone who customarily and regularly receives more than $30 a month in tips. It also considers a standard known as the 80/20 rule, which stipulates that tipped workers can spend no more than 20 percent of their time, or 30 minutes at a stretch, doing tasks that don't directly earn tips. If that sounds arbitrary, that is because it is.
Restaurants and similar businesses already run on thin margins. Keeping track of that kind of detail adds unnecessary red tape and stress. We all know how tough it is out there right now for small businesses.
That is why Representative Steve Womack and I introduced the Tipped Employee Protection Act. This bill replaces the outdated definition of tipped employees with a simpler and more realistic definition. The bill defines a tipped worker as anyone who receives tips and other cash wages that together add up to the Federal minimum wage, without worrying about how much time they spend on this or that.
This change gives businesses more flexibility and protects them from unfair and crippling penalties for small recordkeeping mistakes they might make.
This bill resolves a longstanding issue that has been the subject of expensive litigation and ensures that the Federal Government does not set a standard that it cannot reasonably expect to enforce. It also helps the Department of Labor focus on real wage violations instead of technical paperwork issues.
Let's help small business. Let's help employers. Let's do the right thing. Let's not work for the people that just want to have endless lawsuits, endless litigation, and red tape.
Mr. Speaker, I urge everyone to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 2312 because businesses don't need Federal bureaucrats micromanaging their timekeeping.
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