Great Lakes Wire

The Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) United has announced its intention to return to the courts if Michigan legislators attempt to maintain the state's tipped wage system following a recent Supreme Court decision. Chris White, state director of ROC United, expressed this stance on the MIRS Monday podcast.

“We’re hoping that they don’t get to that point, and then what we see is that would just be another adopt-and-amend (situation) all over again,” White said. “The democratic process and public trust is on the table.”

In 2018, the Republican-led Legislature adopted a citizens’ initiative to gradually raise the minimum wage to $12 hourly by 2022 and subsequently adjust it for inflation. This proposal aimed to phase out Michigan’s tipping system so that wait staff and other tipped employees would receive the same minimum wage as all workers.

However, after adopting the initiative in September 2018, the Legislature later amended its provisions, including preserving the "sub-minimum wage" for tipped employees. In July, the Supreme Court ruled these legislative actions unconstitutional because both adoption and amendment occurred within the same session instead of waiting until the next term. The court ordered that only the original initiative should go into effect.

This ruling sets a new schedule requiring servers' minimum wage to match that of other workers by February 21, 2029. While legislators could pass a new bill to halt this process, White emphasized ROC's commitment to preventing such actions.

“We won in the Supreme Court, which preserved the petition process,” White stated. “We gathered signatures, and we fought the fight for six years.”

White dismissed concerns that wait staff and bartenders would lose their tips under a higher base pay system as "fear-mongering and false information." He noted that currently, tipped employees must earn at least $3.93 per hour without tips but would receive tips on top of an increased base pay.

“How many customers and consumers know how much a waitress makes a year? So if they knew they were making less than $4 an hour, how would they feel about that?” White asked rhetorically.

Tom “Dewey” Bramson, managing partner and owner of various bars and restaurants in East Lansing, Ann Arbor, and Lansing, including Nuthouse Sports Grill in downtown Lansing, shared his perspective with MIRS earlier this month. He reported that his wait staff generally earns around $28 hourly and can double this amount during busy times like football Saturdays.

“We can’t afford to quadruple somebody’s pay and not raise our prices or cut staff or both,” Bramson said. “We try and do our best to find ways to adapt to every new situation that gets thrown our way, but this one – this one’s probably the scariest one yet.”

Both ROC United and the Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association are actively lobbying legislators regarding the future of Michigan's tipping system.