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GUESTS: Raj Nayak, Attorney with the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University

Last month the Federal minimum wage was increased from $5.15 an hour to $5.85 an hour. This increase, although small, was the first one in over a decade and applies to workers across the nation. However, one class of workers are exempt – they are tipped workers like waiters and waitresses, car wash attendants, and delivery workers. For them, the minimum wage has been frozen at an astounding $2.13 for the past 16 years. While restaurant owners justify this by citing waiters and waitresses who earn a lot of money on tips at high-end restaurants, the average salary after tips is only $17,000 a year. What most people also don’t know is that restaurants vary wildly in how tips are distributed. A person waiting tables may end up getting only 60% of the tips he or she earns, after various workers and sometimes even the managers, get their cut.

For more information, visit www.brennancenter.org.