The House on Monday will debate and vote on legislation that would create a minimum-wage exception for tipped employees, a measure expected to draw hours of debate among legislators.
Sponsored by Republican Rep. Pat Garofalo of Farmington, the bill is an effort to revise the minimum-wage law passed last year by a DFL-controlled Legislature.
Garofalo and other supporters of the legislation said it would relieve pressure on restaurants who are seeing their labor costs grow after the Legislature raised the state's wage floor last year.
The first of three phased-in pay hikes went into effect last summer, raising the state's wage floor to $8 an hour. It will rise to $9.50 an hour by 2016. Beginning in 2018, the minimum wage will be indexed to inflation.
Crafted and supported by the Minnesota Restaurant Association, Garofalo's bill would cap the minimum wage for tipped employees at $8 an hour. The proposed pay change would apply only if those workers earned a total of at least $12 an hour in a two-week pay period, after factoring in tips. If they don't, they would earn the prevailing state minimum wage.
Restaurant workers and labor unions oppose the bill, saying it would effectively freeze wages while the cost of living continues to rise.
Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk said last month that Garofalo's bill is unlikely to find much support in the DFL-led Senate. Gov. Mark Dayton opposes creating an exemption for tipped employees, a spokesman said.
