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[Page S1008]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SENATE RESOLUTION 77--DESIGNATING FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2015, AS ``$2.13
DAY''
Mr. BROWN (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal, Ms. Baldwin, Ms. Warren, Mr.
Durbin, Mr. Whitehouse, Mrs. Boxer, and Mrs. Gillibrand) submitted the
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary:
S. Res. 77
Whereas $2.13 per hour is the Federal minimum wage that an
employer is required to pay a tipped employee (as defined in
section 3(t) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29
U.S.C. 203(t))) as a cash wage under section 3(m) of such Act
(29 U.S.C. 203(m)) (referred to in this preamble as the
``Federal minimum wage for a tipped employee'');
Whereas when the Federal minimum wage for a tipped employee
was established in 1966, such wage was linked to the Federal
minimum wage for a covered nonexempt employee under section
6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C.
206(a)(1));
Whereas while the Federal minimum wage for a covered
nonexempt employee increased in 2009, the Federal minimum
wage for a tipped employee has not changed in more than 20
years;
Whereas in the 1980s, the Federal minimum wage for a tipped
employee reached 60 percent of the Federal minimum wage for a
covered nonexempt employee, and in 2015, the Federal minimum
wage for a tipped employee is only 29 percent of the $7.25
per hour Federal minimum wage for a covered nonexempt
employee;
Whereas tipped employees work in many occupations,
including working as restaurant servers, airport attendants,
hotel workers, valets, and salon workers;
Whereas $2.13 per hour is such a low wage that tipped
employees are dependent on the discretional contributions of
consumers for the majority of their income;
Whereas 7 States have 1 minimum wage for both tipped
employees and covered nonexempt employees, and the restaurant
industry has continued to thrive in such States;
Whereas in States with a minimum wage for a tipped employee
that is higher than $2.13 per hour, the poverty rate for
tipped employees is lower than the poverty rate for tipped
employees in States without such a higher minimum wage for
tipped employees;
Whereas restaurant servers have a poverty rate that is 3
times higher than the poverty rate of the general workforce
and are nearly 2 times more likely to depend on the
supplemental nutrition assistance program established under
the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.)
than the general workforce;
Whereas States with a minimum wage for a tipped employee of
$2.13 per hour have a poverty rate for employees of color
that is more than 10 percent higher than such poverty rate in
States that require the same minimum wage for tipped
employees as other covered nonexempt employees;
Whereas women account for 67 percent of all tipped
employees and approximately 70 percent of food servers and
bartenders;
Whereas 25 percent of all tipped employees are parents who
work hard to support their families;
Whereas the Bureau of Labor Statistics projected that from
2008 to 2018, the food preparation and serving sector, as
defined by the Bureau, would add more than 1,000,000 jobs;
Whereas such food preparation and serving sector has a mean
wage of $24,860, nearly $25,000 less than the mean wage for
all occupations in the United States; and
Whereas raising the Federal minimum wage for a tipped
employee would provide hardworking people in the United
States with more just wages, lift families in the United
States out of poverty, and provide economic security to
tipped employees in the United States: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That--
(1) the Senate designates Friday, February 13, 2015, as
``$2.13 Day''; and
(2) it is the sense of the Senate that the cash wage that
an employer is required to pay a tipped employee (as defined
in section 3(t) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29
U.S.C. 203(t))) under section 3(m) of such Act (29 U.S.C.
203(m)) should be increased to 70 percent of the Federal
minimum wage for a covered nonexempt employee under section
6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C.
206(a)(1)).
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