A vote is now open on the President Redraft below, Senators please vote Aye, Nay or Abstain.
2. The minimum wage for tipped employees shall, upon the passage of this legislation, automatically adjust for increases in worker productivity and inflation at the same rate as does the regular federal minimum wage. The previous chart shall not be construed to deny a minimum wage adjustment based on inflation or increases in productivity to any employee.
3. The scaled increase to the minimum wage for tipped employees, as noted in Section 1 shall expire on January 1, 2020 and the tipped minimum wage shall, at that point, be equalized to the regular federal minimum wage. There shall, from January 1, 2020, be no difference in the federal minimum wage for tipped and other employees.
4. From the period between January 1, 2014 to January 1, 2020, tipped employees may 'opt-out' of the compensation adjustment for tipped employees. In doing so, tipped employees shall be paid the previous federal minimum wage for tipped employees until the next scheduled increase, at which point they will be once again asked whether or not to 'opt-out' of it.
4a. Tipped employees having opted out of the compensation adjustment schedule shall be paid a gratuity of 20 percent automatically charged on all purchases by any employer employing tipped employees foregoing the compensation adjustment schedule.
4b. Effective January 1, 2020, the opt-out provision of this law and the automatic gratuity charge shall be terminated and all employees currently paid in tips instead paid the federal minimum wage.
4c. Employers may not be deny the right of employees to opt in or out of a tipped compensation program. Denying a worker such a right is punishable by law and may result in the loss of one’s business license and/or a fine of up to $25,000 per denied employee.
4d. Employers and employees must indicate the form of compensation on tax documents from any jurisdiction. All jurisdictions must recognize both forms of compensation for currently tipped employees.
5. Restaurants shall not charge a service charge exceeding 15% on services rendered by employees who have opted in to the compensation adjustment program.
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