Just because it’s legal - doesn’t make it right. Coverage in Delaware Online brought awareness to a potential problem for Delaware’s tipped workers: Employers can legally make the tipped worker responsible to bear the burden of paying the credit card surges on their tips. 

We are taking a stand for our earned tips, and riding a wave of awareness/education to proactively create protection for tipped workers. 

Please understand - we love our owners. We love our craft. We are not asking anyone to boycott certain restaurants - that only will hurt the very workers you are trying to support! We don’t fault owners for taking advantage of a legal practice, but we are seeking to eliminate it. 

Our basic arguments are simple: 

1. Delaware Hospitality workers are simply asking to protect our existing system that we share in the sacrifice for the greater good. 

• So many variables can impact our wages. Weather. Equipment Breaking. Product Quality, etc. We never know what money we will make each day. 
• We save our employers - and in turn patrons - money by paying bus staff, bar backs, and other team members out of our earned tips to keep the machine running. Shared sacrifice, indeed. 
• That’s why this money coming out of our pocket stings. We aren’t asking for $15 per hour plus tips. We aren’t asking for paid vacation time. We aren’t trying to unionize. We are just asking the bare minimum that our earned tips remain fully in our pockets for the tremendous effort we give to make our owners successful. 

 

2. The reality is we are not share holders. We understandably don’t get a single penny of profits from our employers, so why should we be forced to give a single penny to cover the expenses of the business operations from our wages?

 

3. This is not an unprecedented protection. Three states have this protection in place, and that list is growing! Why? Owners have been enable to recoup a majority of their credit card fees by passing them onto the customer. They can’t pass the tip portion to the customers, so they are hoping we will accept paying these fees. We are hoping our lawmakers help us draw this line & stop deductions coming out of our pockets. 

 

4. We don’t control how the consumer wants to pay. Basically, it’s like the owner saying, “It’s not your fault…but it is your problem!”

5. We love our business owners - and want vibrant restaurants that encourage top notch service based on the incentive of earning tips! We understand what owners endure to give us this opportunity. However, some cost of businesses cannot always recouped. Owners pay delivery fees. They pay distributor fees. They pay subscriptions fees. As the faces of their businesses, forcing us to work for less, make us feel less worthy than the major corporations they willingly pay…all while we keep their businesses viable on the front lines. 
 

Hospitality workers have formed this petition to generate awareness for this cause, hoping legislators will take quick action to protect tipped workers. 

1) Immediately pass legislation to make this practice by the employer illegal.

2) Work with employers and legislators to potentially pass a secondary bill that limits major credit card companies ability to charge small businesses fees on a credit card on tips given to a worker. This will take much longer, as we will have to stand up to major corporations! 

In Delaware, there is no Tip Workers association/lobbying group solely focused on protecting tipped workers, so we must rely on the support of every day citizens to help our voices get heard. 

Your support of this petition helps make that more likely. 

Several lawmakers have already reached out to us, and we will keep you updated along the way.

Hopefully, in the spirit of what is right, a fantastic solution will be delivered to protect your favorite hospitality workers and business owners, alike.