AUGUSTA, Maine — A bill to study the effect of Maine’s new minimum wage law on tipped restaurant employees won the majority support of the Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee on Wednesday, despite party-line opposition from GOP members of the committee.
“The low-wage economy keeps hundreds of thousands of hardworking, gainfully employed Mainers from reaching their full potential, and voters said overwhelmingly in November that enough is enough: It’s time to raise the minimum wage,” said Sen. Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, the bill’s sponsor.
Question 4, as approved by voters, increased the minimum wage in Maine incrementally to $12 per hour in 2020, and phased out the subminimum wage for tipped employees. Starting this year, tipped workers receive $5 hourly, compared with the old rate of $3.75. The tipped wage will increase by one dollar per year until it is equal to the full minimum wage.
LD 1117, “Resolve, To Establish the Commission To Study the Phase-out of Subminimum Wage,” establishes a commission of key stakeholders, including servers, restaurateurs, industry associations and legislators, to collect data and monitor how the new minimum wage law affects restaurant industry growth, employment levels and restaurant workers’ wages and tips.
The LCRED Committee voted 7-6 to endorse Jackson’s bill, with all Democrats supporting the measure and all Republicans opposed.
Since November, restaurant owners and industry lobbyists and some servers have pressed lawmakers to keep the subminimum wage for tipped workers, saying that increasing servers’ wages will threaten the industry, decrease tipping rates and cause servers to lose their jobs.
However, the best available data from the seven states that have one fair wage for all workers, including tipped workers, indicates that no such “sky is falling” scenario will take place. Those states, including rural Alaska, continue to have thriving restaurant industries, and customers have continued to tip their servers.
LD 1117 now goes to the Senate for an initial vote.
