'Fair wage across the board': Bill would phase out tip credit deducted from employee's hourly wage

    BALTIMORE (WBAL) -- A bill introduced to the Baltimore City Council on Monday would limit and phase out the amount of tip credit that a business can deduct from an employee's hourly wage.

Baltimore City Councilmember John Bullock, D-District 9, introduced the bill.

"The concept essentially is that it's predictable, it's one fair wage across the board, as opposed to being having the uncertainty of not knowing if you're going to have the adequate tips to make up that wage," Bullock said. "We want to make sure it's a fair wage across the board."

Bullock and other supporters of the bill said it aims to rebuild the workforce and ensure no worker is forced to rely on tips to survive.

"I generally enjoy being a bartender and being in the service industry," said Marina Santoro. "It is nice to take care of people, but one thing I really don't enjoy is not being paid a full minimum wage. Here in Maryland, it is only $3.63 an hour for tipped employees."

"This is not to take away workers' tips — I want to be very clear about that. We are talking about wages with tips in addition," Bullock said.

However, the bill was met with some skepticism, including from City Council President Zeke Cohen.

"We are always going to support the workers of Baltimore City," Cohen said. "But as I've gone around and heard from people, I have not heard many servers say they want this bill. In fact, I've heard servers speak out against it and say, 'Zeke, we're making more than $15 an hour right now.'"

In a statement to 11 News, the Restaurant Association of Maryland said:

"Tipped employee earnings would significantly decrease if the tip credit was eliminated because most restaurants would be forced to impose service charges on customer checks to cover the higher labor costs."