Tipped Minimum Wages Perpetuate Racial and Gender Disparity, New Report Finds

New York’s tipped minimum wage perpetuates racial and gender disparity, report says

There’s more evidence that tipped minimum wages — the practice by which restaurant workers can be paid less than state or federal minimum wages as a result of also receiving tips — can lead to greater racial and gender pay disparity, a new report finds. The report, which is based on government data and interviews with NYC tipped workers, comes from non-profit UC Berkeley Food Labor Research Center and One Fair Wage, a non-profit that advocates for the end of tipped minimum wages.

Nationally, tipped minimum wages have resulted in a roughly $5 per hour difference in pay between Black women and white men who are tipped, the report shows. That difference is even more stark here in New York state, where the difference in tipped hourly pay between those two groups was found to be nearly $8. The report attributes that disparity to people of color having been historically “locked out of the highest paid fine-dining positions.” While people of color make up 47 percent of tipped positions in casual dining restaurants, they only account for 32 percent of paid tipped positions in fine dining ones.

The report from One Fair Wage and UC Berkeley comes on the heels of mounting evidence that tipped minimum wages encourage racism, sexism, harassment, and exploitation in the workplace. Despite those claims, New York City has yet to adequately address the issue of tipped minimums, the report claims. In January Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that he would eliminate the tipped minimum wage, though the state’s hospitality industry workers were excluded from that change. Meanwhile, Danny Meyer — the restaurateur who was one of the pioneers of the no-tipping model at restaurants in NYC — announced this week that he will be abandoning that practice at his roster of restaurants at Union Square Hospitality Group.

In other news

— Chef Scott Kosnoodi is now heading the kitchen at Parklife, an outdoor bar in Gowanus, and has brought on a new menu that plays on Texan and Persian culinary traditions, including barbacoa tacos topped with yogurt and grilled steak in fried masa. The bar has reopened for outdoor movie nights and weekly movie trivia, as well, on Wednesdays.

— The Fairway Market locations in Red Hook and Douglaston, Queens have been purchased by Bogopa Enterprises, Inc., the operator of grocery store chain Food Bazaar. Both stores will become new locations of Food Bazaar.

— Soho newcomer Haizea is now doing brunch, according to a spokesperson for the restaurant. The new Basque menu, available for outdoor dining only, includes tuna empanadas, serrano ham grilled cheeses, and housemade gazpacho soup.

— Ample Hills will reopen stores in Prospect Heights, Chelsea, and Astoria under new ownership this Thursday, according to a spokesperson for the company.

— Over-the-top burger and shake chain Black Tap will begin serving its shakes to-go from a pop-up hosted at its Soho location starting Thursday, July 23.

— The same goes for running to your door to get that delivery order: