Brian Calley President and Chief Executive Officer at Small Business Association of Michigan | Official website
Brian Calley President and Chief Executive Officer at Small Business Association of Michigan | Official website
Rachel May, a 35-year-old bartender at Applebee’s, opposes Michigan's plan to phase out its tipping system. She wants state officials to know she chose to be part of the tipped worker industry and stated, “we’re not some poor little servants that are underpaid.”
May started working in restaurants around age 20. Currently employed at an optician’s office, she continues to pick up shifts at a Lansing area Applebee’s. She explained to MIRS that “I make way more money bartending” despite her office job being simpler.
On Sundays, May said she usually earns about $500 in tips from double shifts, with potential earnings reaching $700 on a Sunday evening.
Having worked in the industry for over a decade, May noted that her employer has never had to supplement her income to meet minimum wage requirements. This is required by law if waitstaff do not earn enough through tips.
“I do my office job, and then I bar-tend on the side to make extra money because it is convenient. You’ve got an extra bill that’s coming up? You need a couple extra dollars? You can pick up a shift and easily make that bill in a shift,” May said. “I can (sometimes pay) two bills in a shift.”
May spoke with MIRS during an event hosted by the Save MI Tips coalition at Lansing’s Nuthouse Sports Grill on Michigan Avenue, near the state Capitol.
The coalition is responding to a July 31 ruling by the Michigan Supreme Court mandating a five-year phase-out of the state’s tipping standards. By 2030, waitstaff will be paid a $15 hourly minimum wage.
Six years ago, lawmakers altered two petition efforts with enough signatures to appear on the ballot. One petition aimed to raise the state's minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2022 and gradually eliminate Michigan's tipping system.
Instead of letting voters decide, Republican legislators modified these proposals and passed statutes maintaining the tip credit system and raising Michigan's minimum wage to $12.05 by 2030.
The Michigan Supreme Court ruled along party lines that the Republican-led Legislature’s adopt-and-amend tactic was unconstitutional.
When asked about phasing out Michigan’s tipping system providing better deals for waitstaffs, Vanessa Kragnik, aged 42, responded with frustration.
“It takes a certain type of person to be a server or a bartender, and not everybody can actually do it. You have to have thick skin,” Kragnik said.
Kragnik expressed concern about losing tips if current legislators don't protect them. She typically earns at least $100 daily from tips.
Finance calculations show an hourly rate of $15 would result in earning $120 daily or $600 weekly for someone working 40 hours per week.
Ramona Cross, aged 45, left her minimum wage job at a portrait studio two years ago to become a waitress. When her father died recently, she picked up extra shifts at Applebee's using her tips for travel expenses and ensuring no financial loss during time off.
“You pick up an extra shift, and that’s your rainy day (fund),” Cross said.
For May, tips cover her daughter's sports expenses on an elite soccer team costing nearly $4,000 annually and other personal expenditures like back-to-school sneakers or movie outings.
May predicts phasing out the tip system will lead to job losses among younger and less experienced servers due to employers unwillingness "to pay you minimum wage" unless servers are strong performers.
“You’re going to have longer wait times in restaurants; your food prices are going higher (and) your service is not going to be as great,” she added.
Senator Thomas Albert (R-Lowell) has introduced legislation aiming to maintain Michigan's existing standards for paid sick leave, tipped wages, and minimum wages.