The Southwest Michigan Regional Chamber is applauding a Michigan Appeals Court ruling Thursday that prevented a change in labor laws from going into effect. Chamber President Arthur Havlicek tells us had the court not overturned a lower court’s ruling, tipped workers, like servers in restaurants, would have been paid the minimum wage instead of the alternate minimum they currently receive.
“It would fundamentally change how restaurants in our state would operate because right now, their labor costs are set with the tipped wage credit, and eliminating that would be a 156% increase per employee that goes on to the business bottom line,” Havlicek said.
Havlicek says restaurant servers could have made less money under the rule.
“We’ll know that, ‘OK, your wage has gone up.’ That would drive a lot of consumers, especially now when costs are already high, to not tip as much and it might actually result in the servers making less money than they would have had the tipped credit remained in place.”
The change struck down by the Court of Appeals this week would also have required smaller employers to have paid sick leave, and also required paid sick leave for contracted workers. The chamber filed a brief with the court asking it to rule as it did. Havlicek says they’re expecting the matter to be appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court.
