Prince George’s County restaurants could receive thousands of dollars if owners commit to raising employee wages to $15 per hour by the end of the year and apply to a new grant program.
The organization seeking to eliminate tipped minimum wage, One Fair Wage, in partnership with PG County and Capital One, created the grant for restaurateurs in response to a staffing crisis. One Fair Wage President Saru Jayaraman says local restaurateurs are struggling to hire because of low wages in the county and competitive wages elsewhere.
“It is actually the worst staffing crisis in the history of our industry,” says Jayaraman during a Thursday press conference, adding that surveyed workers say they won’t stay in the local restaurant industry unless they are guaranteed the full minimum wage with tips on top.
Maryland’s prevailing minimum wage is $13.25 per hour, and will increase next year. But for many restaurant workers, who get paid a tipped minimum wage that’s been stagnant since 2014, their hourly wage is $3.63 plus the promise of tips.
While restaurateurs legally have to ensure their workers earn the state’s prevailing minimum wage when tips are included, opponents of tipped wages say the requirement is not always followed and leave workers vulnerable to wage theft. The last federal compliance investigation of full-service restaurants was back in 2012 and found roughly 84% of the examined businesses violated labor law, much of it related to tips, according to the New York Times.
The grant program, called “Keep Restaurant Workers in Prince George’s County,” aims to help local restaurateurs phase out tipped minimum wage. An estimated 20 to 30 establishments will receive a grant valued between $5,000 to $7,500 each. The money is not expected to pay the workers’ full wages but to help restaurateurs transition to the new model.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Amanda Michelle Gomez over at DCIST
