Same Minimum Wage for Waitresses As Everybody Else? Two Lawmakers Say It’s Only Fair, Critics Say It’s Sayonara-Waitresses

Two Massachusetts state legislators have filed a bill that would require restaurant owners to pay waiters and waitresses the same minimum wage other hourly employees in the state get.

Waiters and waitresses typically make most of their money in tips from customers, and state law acknowledges that by setting a much lower minimum wage for them — $4.35 an hour in 2019, as opposed to $12 an hour for other hourly employees.