Tipped workers may get back pay after wage increase

A recent court decision might entitle tipped workers at local restaurants and bars to back pay.

If an employer has more than $500,000 in yearly gross sales, tipped employees are eligible to receive $3.25 an hour for any work done after Jan. 1.

Employers must pay tipped workers one-half of the minimum wage, $3.25, according to the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Businesses with yearly gross sales of less than $500,000 are exempt from the new wage law. The new minimum hourly wage of $6.50 went into effect Jan. 1, after almost 75 percent of voters approved the raise in a referendum last year.

Initial confusion about the wording of the law led some businesses to continue to pay their tipped employees the old hourly wage of $2.13.

The Department of Labor originally advised businesses that they did not have to raise the wages of tipped employees. This contradicted its own 15-year-old regulation that requires tipped employees be given half the current minimum wage.

Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce recently ruled that employers should have raised the minimum wage for tipped workers Jan. 1. She also dismissed the argument that the employers shouldn't have to give tipped employees back pay.

Attorney John Renick, who represented the restaurants in the lawsuit, said he plans to appeal the decision.

Shannon McCoy, manager of River Nick's, 1 N. Main St., said he's been following the minimum-wage increase carefully.

"I've kept track of the wages and the court cases since January 1," McCoy said. "We didn't raise our servers' pay because we have less than $500,000 in gross sales yearly."

Buckner Brewing Co., 132 N. Main St., plans to raise tipped employees' pay to $3.25 an hour beginning Tuesday.

Manager Tammy Maddock declined to comment whether Buckner plans to pay its servers back pay. She said an accounting firm handles the company payroll.

A local waitress, who asked not to be identified, said she was aware of Joyce's ruling but didn't believe employers would start paying $3.25 without intervention by the labor department.

She currently makes $2.13 an hour and said she wasn't expecting a raise.

"Most restaurants aren't going to do that voluntarily," she said. "They live paycheck to paycheck, too."

The Department of Labor has forms available on its Web site for minimum-wage complaints. Go to www.dolir.mo.gov for more information.

pwylie@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127