Co-Sponsorship Memo Details

In the near future, I plan to re-introduce legislation, formerly SB 199 of 2015-2016, 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.

I hope you will support this important legislation to protect the rights of tipped workers throughout the commonwealth.
 
Members who co-sponsored this legislation previously include Senators Fontana, Hughes, Costa, Schwank, and Rafferty.