Even prior to COVID-19, tipped workers suffered from the inadequacies of the U.S. social safety net and minimum-wage standards.
The pandemic has exposed not only the inherent vulnerability of food-service workers to a public health emergency but also how even government efforts to support them can fail those who rely on tips for some or most of their income.
As a postdoctoral fellow studying the health implications of precarious employment, including tipped-service work, I believe that there needs to be more help for tipped workers in order for them to survive the pandemic and whatever comes after.
Well before the first case of the coronavirus emerged on U.S. soil, food-service jobs were among the 25 lowest-paid occupations in the country.
As cases began to crop up, initial public health guidance for workers included advising them to work from home and stay home when sick.
But the majority of food-service workers had neither the privilege to work from home nor access to paid sick leave. While the March coronavirus relief bills included provisions for paid leave for workers sickened by COVID-19, they required the signoff of a health care provider.
In some states, a third of food-service workers lack health insurance, which means they can’t get a signoff.
Even as restaurants reopen, the instability of wages continues.
A study published in March found that as many as 60% of service and retail workers reported going to work sick, due in part to a lack of health insurance.
But as the pandemic worsened, most states issued stay-at-home orders, forcing restaurants to close down. As a result, unemployment rates for food-service places jumped from 6.2% in January to 35.4% in April, with 21.8% still unemployed as of July.
Workers who lose their jobs can usually count on unemployment insurance to make up at least some of their lost income. Workers who rely on unpredictable tips, however, can easily fall through the cracks. That’s because a worker must earn a minimum amount of non-tip income to collect unemployment benefits. And in 43 states, it’s legal to pay tipped workers less than the minimum wage, and in 15 they can be paid as little as $2.13 an hour – the federal minimum for those who receive at least $30 in tips a month.
While federal law stipulates all employees receive the full minimum wage and that employers make up the difference when tips fall short, it’s challenging to enforce. About a decade ago, the Department of Labor investigated 9,000 full-service restaurants across the country to verify compliance with the requirement to make up any shortfalls in tipped income. Almost 84% had one or more violations.
In March, Congress passed legislation that temporarily relaxed the unemployment insurance eligibility criteria and supplemented the varying state benefit levels with $600 a week.
While tipped workers are among those who benefited from this expanded access to unemployment insurance, until it ran out on July 31, as many as 44% of workers who have applied for unemployment since March have been denied or are still waiting.
But even as restaurants reopen, the instability of wages continues.
The volume of customers – and tip opportunities – have been dramatically reduced in restaurants that have reopened. In many states, tipped workers at high-volume, low-cost restaurant chains would have to secure a 15% tip from more than two tables per hour in order to even earn a paltry $7.25.
It is for these reasons that tipped-worker advocates argue that it is not appropriate to pay these workers less than the minimum wage.
Currently, 82% of tipped workers are employed in states that permit a subminimum wage, 33% of which are at the bare minimum of $2.13. Studies have shown that even a small increase in the subminimum wage not only can lift income but may also reduce poverty-related stress and even improve the health of babies born to those working in these occupations.
And while inadequate wages are not the only obstacle tipped workers face, it is clear that wages that can easily evaporate in a downturn are not sustainable.
Sarah B. Andrea is a postdoctoral scholar in epidemiology at the University of Washington. Distributed by The Associated Press.
