If your newsfeed has been dominated this week by accusations by porn stars, news on Russia and the Koreas you may have missed the news that was most relevant to you.
Congress blocked employers from taking any amount of tips that diners leave for waiters.
Last year the Department of Labor suggested that restaurants be allowed to share tips between servers and cooks meaning the restaurant owner would be allowed to keep some of that money as well. The department also maintained that restaurants would only qualify for tip sharing if every worker was paid the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.
Workers rallied together and complained that the tip skimming would lower their overall wages. Congress seems to have agreed and wrote language into the recently passed spending bill that says employers may not keep tips.
The bill does, however, make it ok to pool tips of all employees and split them among the entire staff, to include kitchen workers and bussers. Again, to qualify for this every employee must also make full minimum wage.
The U.S. may see a shift in pay for restaurant workers. Currently workers who receive tips also receive a minimum federal wage of $2.13 an hour. Seven states have abolished the rule and required tip receivers to receive the same minimum wage as everyone else.
Other states and cities are expected to follow. Washington D.C., Michigan and New York will vote on the issue this year.