DENVER — Earlier this week, Colorado lawmakers unveiled plans for a new bill that aims to increase the wage for tipped workers.
At an event where a handful of legislators worked as servers for an hour, State Representative Javier Mabrey, D – Denver and Jefferson Counties, explained the goals of the bill.
“This bill is about giving municipalities the opportunity to increase the subminimum wage, or eliminate the subminimum wage, for tipped workers if they choose that they want to do that,” Mabrey said. “This is about local control, and it’s also about empowering restaurant workers.”
The minimum wage in Colorado is $14.42 an hour. Tipped workers’ minimum wage is $11.40 with a tip credit of $3.02. The tip credit is the difference between the two wages. According to Mabrey, the bill would give local municipalities the option of eliminating that tip credit and boosting tipped workers up to $14.42 an hour while still collecting tips.
Tip credits are a legal way for employers to count tips as being directed toward employee minimum wage. All tipped workers must still make minimum wage as a combined result of their pay plus tips.