Many minimum wage workers in Maryland are seeing bigger paychecks this month. Legislation boosting the state’s minimum wage went into effect on Jan. 1, 2024.

But the situation is different for tipped workers, like restaurant staff or bartenders.

Tipped workers receive a base pay as little as $3.63 an hour, though employers are required to make up the difference if a tipped worker's base wage plus tips equal less than $15 an hour.

However, some tipped workers and labor advocates are pushing to raise the minimum wage for tipped workers, and legislation has been filed in both houses of the General Assembly to do that.

We speak with the chief sponsor of the House bill, Democratic Del. Adrian Boafo, and Mahkaylah Monroe, a waiter at an Outback Steakhouse in Laurel, Maryland.

We also talk to opponents of the bill, who argue a raised minimum wage is unnecessary and might endanger the tips waiters and bartenders rely on.

Marshall Weston is President and CEO of the Restaurant Association of Maryland, an advocate for the hospitality and food service industry. We also speak to Alex McCrimmon, a server at the Clyde’s American Restaurant and Bar in Rockville, Maryland.



(Photo: Visitor7, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons)

Many minimum wage workers in Maryland are seeing bigger paychecks this month. <a href="https://www.wypr.org/wypr-news/2023-12-29/new-minimum-wage-biomarker-coverage-and-spam-calls-headline-laws-taking-effect-in-maryland-jan-1">Legislation boosting the state’s minimum wage went into effect on</a> Jan. 1, 2024.
But the situation is different for tipped workers, like restaurant staff or bartenders.
Tipped workers receive a base pay as little as $3.63 an hour, though employers are required to make up the difference if a tipped worker's base wage plus tips equal less than $15 an hour.
However, some tipped workers and labor advocates are pushing to raise the minimum wage for tipped workers, and legislation has been filed in both houses of the General Assembly to do that.
We speak with the chief sponsor of the House bill, Democratic Del. Adrian Boafo, and Mahkaylah Monroe, a waiter at an Outback Steakhouse in Laurel, Maryland.
We also talk to opponents of the bill, who argue a raised minimum wage is unnecessary and might endanger the tips waiters and bartenders rely on.
Marshall Weston is President and CEO of the Restaurant Association of Maryland, an advocate for the hospitality and food service industry. We also speak to Alex McCrimmon, a server at the Clyde’s American Restaurant and Bar in Rockville, Maryland.
 
(Photo: Visitor7, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0">CC BY-SA 3.0</a> , via Wikimedia Commons)

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Catch On the Record, hosted by Sheilah Kast, weekdays from 9:30 to 10:00 am, following NPR's Morning Edition. We'll discuss the issues that affect your life and bring you thoughtful and lively conversations with the people who shape those issues -- business people, public officials, scholars, artists, authors, WYPR reporters and other journalists who can take us inside the story. If you want to share a comment, question, or an idea for an interview you?d like to hear, email us at <a href="mailto:ontherecord@wypr.org" target="_blank">ontherecord@wypr.org</a>

On The Record

Catch On the Record, hosted by Sheilah Kast, weekdays from 9:30 to 10:00 am, following NPR's Morning Edition. We'll discuss the issues that affect your life and bring you thoughtful and lively conversations with the people who shape those issues -- business people, public officials, scholars, artists, authors, WYPR reporters and other journalists who can take us inside the story. If you want to share a comment, question, or an idea for an interview you'd like to hear, email us at ontherecord@wypr.org

Catch On the Record, hosted by Sheilah Kast, weekdays from 9:30 to 10:00 am, following NPR's Morning Edition. We'll discuss the issues that affect your life and bring you thoughtful and lively conversations with the people who shape those issues -- business people, public officials, scholars, artists, authors, WYPR reporters and other journalists who can take us inside the story. If you want to share a comment, question, or an idea for an interview you'd like to hear, email us at <a href="mailto:ontherecord@wypr.org">ontherecord@wypr.org</a>

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