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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2015 - 2016
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 16, 2014 03:39 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Christine M. Tartaglione |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Co-Sponsorship of Legislation: Eliminating Credit Card Deductions from Tipped Wages |
| In the near future, I intend to introduce legislation that would amend Pennsylvania’s Minimum Wage Act to prohibit employers from deducting business costs from gratuities paid to employees. Specifically, my legislation would stipulate that any employer who permits customers to pay gratuities by credit card must pay their employees the full amount of the gratuity indicated on the credit card slip. No deductions may be made for any fees or costs the credit card company may charge to the employer. In Pennsylvania, minimum wage employees who make at least $30 per month in tips are considered tipped workers. By law, they must be paid at least $2.83 per hour, and the rest of their wages are earned from customer tips. Unfortunately, when a customer uses a credit card to pay gratuity at a bar or restaurant, employers often require their tipped employees to subtract from their gratuities the processing fees charged by credit card companies. This business practice is both costly and unfair to tipped workers, as it diminishes their take-home pay and penalizes them for a customer’s decision to use an employer-sanctioned method of payment. It’s time to end the unscrupulous practice of employer tip theft. Businesses should be responsible for paying their own operational expenses, and employees should be paid the full amount of gratuity intended by their customers. I hope you will support this important legislation to protect the rights of tipped workers throughout the commonwealth. |
Introduced as SB199