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Comment by jnwatson | Hacker News Reader

Tip workers absolute have the same minimum wage laws. The minimum wage is lower ($2.13) and they are guaranteed to make at least the regular minimum wage if by their tips are not high enough

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This depends on the state. In California, there isn't a separate "tipped minimum wage". Waiters in San Francisco thus make at least $16.32/hr ($16.99 starting in July) plus tips.

Some restaurants are trying to replace tips with service charges or higher prices, because the back of the house (cooks, dishwashers, etc.) do not receive tips [1]. The current pay at a decent but not high end restaurant like Zuni is upwards of $70k/yr (the $35/hr mentioned in the article).

[1] https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/Legendary-Zuni-Cafe...

You just confused two things, tips are not wages, if you get a tip that's a gratuity from a customer. The customer isn't paying to relieve the owners of paying [minimum] wages, they're giving a gift to the people who served them. The level of tip (your last sentence) has nothing to do with a person's wages, they either get a minimum _wage_ or they don't. Reducing their wage because they got a tip would be not paying minimum wage; it would also be callously transferring a tip from a worker to an owner.

If the owner wants to be richer stealing the tips is not the way, it's immoral for one. An owner should put up sales prices or have a separate 'jar' for "tips for the owner".

You’re literally arguing against the FLSA.

Any dollar a customer tips counts as “tip credit” that an employer can deduct from that employee’s minimum wage.

See https://www.paychex.com/articles/human-resources/tip-credits...

Employers can legally do all sorts of immoral things.

Which country is FLSA in, presumably USA?

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