Dark:
Still in the
Dark:
Tipped Wages in DC
Overwhelmingly, DC businesses are not compliant with the law and do not report quarterly tips into the Tipped Portal.
Key Findings
In 2018, when the DC Council overturned Initiative 77, they included a requirement that the DC Department of Employment Services (DOES) receive a quarterly report of all wages and tips from employers using the tipped minimum wage to ensure all employees are at least making the full minimum wage. Four years later, we have discovered widespread noncompliance.
Since 2019, DC Jobs With Justice (DCJWJ) and Restaurant Opportunities Center of DC (ROC-DC) have sought to understand what is happening inside businesses that pay the tipped minimum wage by using data collected by DOES. This report reflects the information we have received from data dated Quarter 3 FY2021 - Quarter 2, FY2022, (April 1, 2021 - March 31, 2022).
there are 922 locations - 65% of restaurants and bars with liquor licenses - we know nothing about.
The report focuses on the restaurant industry because by using Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration (ABRA) data, we were able to have a scope of the full number of relevant employers. Other establishments covered by these requirements are hotels, valets, salons, etc., that report as well.
It is critical we understand what is happening in these businesses. According to the Economic Policy Institute, "the leisure and hospitality industry has historically had the highest rates of low-wage workers and minimum wage violations.
While businesses are legally required to report quarterly, only 498 total businesses, or 35% of DC restaurants, have reported at least once in the year we investigated. Right now, there are only 162 businesses, or 11%, that reported consistently in that year. As a result:
Most DC restaurants are not reporting.
Chances are, your favorite spot is not reporting, so there’s no way to know whether the workers there are getting paid the minimum wage, above or below.
There is an unfortunate number of DC’s most prominent eateries that are not on the list. None of the restaurants owned by Jose Andres reported that year. The Hamilton did not report - and most Clyde's Restaurant Group locations only reported once. Le Diplomat also does not show up. These are companies doing significant business in Washington, DC. The Hamilton is on Restaurant Business' report of “Top 100 Independents” in the country with a sales total of $23,138,062.
These businesses cannot operate at the scale they do without an administrative infrastructure that could effectively ensure compliance.
Most DC restaurants are not reporting.
Reported Consistently
3 Reports or less
11%
0 reports
0
500
1,000
1,500
Only 498 total businesses - or 35% of DC restaurants - have reported at least once in the year investigated.
The establishments regularly reporting reflect businesses of all sizes, with many being the only business owned by a particular company - not a restaurant group. This demonstrates that regular reporting is something that is achievable for small businesses. A quick list of those businesses includes: Elle, Satay Club, Das, Las Placitas, and Aroi. It is striking that many of DC’s largest and most successful restaurants, with ample administrative capacity, have regularly failed to report.
They say sunlight is the best disinfectant. When the DC Council passed this law, one goal was to ensure transparency within the industries where employees are reliant on tips to meet the minimum wage. Unfortunately, in the three years since the law has passed, the public still has very little insight into the wages of tipped workers. This raises serious concerns about the level of wage theft that could be occurring in non-compliant businesses.
welcome to
Restaurants
Washington, DC
1
1
1
1
1
china chilcano
jaleo
minibar
oyamel
zaytinya
Total:
No Tipped Wages Reported
None of the restautants owned by Jose andres have reported in the last year.
Jose Andres
0 reports
0 reports
0 reports
0 reports
0 reports
The “Tipped Portal” is the tool used by DOES to collect information about the tipped wage. Since the data was not made publicly available after it was collected, DC JWJ and pro bono attorneys sought to gain access to this public information. In late 2019, DC JWJ began requesting the information collected in this portal to make available to the public using FOIA. DOES did not meaningfully comply with our request, and we were forced to take the agency to court, where we won access to the full data contained in the portal in 2021.
This report is based on our most recent FOIA request received in the last few weeks, which provided data in quarters up to Q2 FY22, which is April 1, 2022. This report data is based on the last 4 quarters/one year of reports we received after requesting all data available in the Tipped Portal beginning in Quarter 1, FY20.
To try to understand how the data received relates to the universe of establishments paying the subminimum wage, we compared the reports to the 2022 ABRA liquor licenses under the category of Bars, Restaurants, Pubs, and Nightclubs. This is an incomplete universe as it does not include food establishments which do not have liquor licenses but use the subminimum wage and all the businesses that are not food related like salons, valet, car washes, etc. However, it did give us a snapshot of the rate of compliance in sit-down restaurants in DC.
About the Data
DC Jobs With Justice and the Restaurant Opportunity Center of DC have a long history of fighting for fair and accountable workplaces in Washington, DC. Both organizations have worked to pass a combination of laws to protect workers from wage theft. This includes DC’s minimum wage law, Paid Sick and Safe leave, and the Wage Theft Amendment Act. We consider oversight of the implementation of these laws as vital as the laws themselves, and since 2013, DC JWJ has convened the Just Pay Coalition, which seeks to make those laws real for DC workers. ROC-DC has been an active member in the coalition.
The Just Pay Coalition uses a data-driven approach to end wage theft in various forms. Our framework for ending wage theft is heavily reliant on strategies developed by the Obama Department of Labor. We focus on industries where wage theft is most prevalent based on national data and local experience. (Our campaign to highlight local abuses at Power Design reflects this approach in another industry.) Unfortunately, while the restaurant industry is a significant part of DC’s culture and economy, there is much that needs to be improved. The US Department of Labor has found that 83% of restaurants have a wage violation in any given year.
There are many local examples of wage theft concerns as well. In 2020, Matchbox and Ted’s Bulletin agreed to pay more than $142,000 in unpaid wages to over 100 workers as part of a settlement with DC’s Attorney General.
About Us
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If the amount of tips that an employee
receives over a pay period
does not average
to the minimum wage...
...the employer is
required to make up the difference
Employees who receive at least $30 in tips per month can be paid the
tipped minimum wage.
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Tipped Minimum Wage: $5.35
All employees have a right to a minimum wage
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DC Minimum wage:
$16.10
The same year, a chain of restaurants in DC and Virginia owned by the Meija Corporation were required to pay back $848,006 in back wages to over 209 employees following an investigation from the US Department of Labor. And in 2018, Farmer Restaurant Group agreed to pay over $1.49 million in back-wages owed to 962 current and former workers over a four year span.
DC JWJ, ROC-DC and our partners in the Just Pay Coalition will continue to utilize this data and other tools to ensure that workers are paid according to the law and in recognition of their value. There is much more to learn from this data and we are committed to continuing to do that work. Further analysis of the data will include: deeper analysis of the wages reported, investigation into areas where wage theft seems apparent from the data, questions to the Department of Employment Services regarding what corrective action is taken when the numbers reported or the failure to report is identified in the portal.
We also hope this data provides a tool for concerned consumers to ask questions of their favorite spot to eat or drink and help ensure all DC workers are paid what they deserve.
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www.knowyourrightsdc.org