Tipped Employee Protection Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. HORSFORD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding time.

Mr. Speaker, this debate comes down to one simple question: What is fair for tipped workers?

All across America, and especially in my home State of Nevada, tipped workers show up every day, serving food and cleaning rooms. They keep our restaurants, hotels, and casinos running. They work hard. They deserve to be paid fairly for every hour that they work.

Under current law, there is a commonsense protection in place. A worker can only be paid a tipped wage if their job actually depends on tips. That is why the law says workers must regularly earn tips before an employer can pay a subminimum wage.

That rule exists to prevent abuse. H.R. 2312, the so-called Tipped Employee Protection Act, tears down that protection. Under this bill, an employer could say that you earned a tip once this week, so every hour you work now counts as tipped work.

A worker could wait tables one night, earn a few tips, and then spend the rest of the week cooking, cleaning, or washing dishes and still be paid as little as $2.13 an hour for that work. That is not tip work. That is a pay cut.

That is why we need to pass my TIPS Act, which would raise the wages for tipped workers--which has not been raised since 1991, the year I graduated from high school--not cut them.

This GOP bill lets employers average tips however they want over whatever time period they choose and use that as an excuse to lower wages for hours when workers are not earning tips at all.

Mr. Speaker, let's be honest: Tips aren't guaranteed. They depend on the customer, the shift, the economy, and pure luck. That is why tips are gifts, not a guarantee and not wages. No worker should have to gamble with their paycheck just to make rent or to put food on the table.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to stand with working people, stand with tipped workers, and vote ``no'' on H.R. 2312.

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