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    14 Things You Need To Know About The Minimum Wage And Tipped Workers.

    This week, the Senate will vote on increasing the federal minimum wage to $10.10 — something that will benefit millions of Americans. What most people don’t know is that passing this legislation would also greatly benefit tipped minimum wage workers: those Americans working for LESS than the minimum wage, who often struggle to put food on the table for their families every day. What’s more, most tipped workers are women, so raising the wage would bring us closer to equality in the workforce. I call on my fellow Senators and Congressmen and women to think seriously about the affect their vote will have on the millions of Americans who deserve more. And here are a few things you may not know about these tipped workers, who we all interact with each day without knowing or understanding their struggle.

    1. This week, the Senate will vote on raising the minimum wage to $10.10…

    2. …but before we even have a date for the vote, people are raising skepticism of its likelihood to pass.

    3. This legislation affects hourly minimum wage workers and “tipped” workers whose wages are just $2.13/hr…plus tips. That’s less than 30% of the full federal minimum wage.

    4. Currently, about 3.3 million workers are in tipped occupations in the U.S.

    5. And women? They account for 72% of the tipped workforce.

    6. Tipped workers aren’t just waiters and waitresses (a profession most people know should be tipped).

    7. Tipped workers can also be bussers, bar-backs, bellhops, parking attendants, nail salon workers, car washers, airport service workers, & food delivery people. And in some cases, they're legally prohibited from informing customers that they work for tips!

    8. Meaning, they work for tips, but … they can’t legally tell you they work for tips.

    9. So, sometimes, these tipped workers just don’t make enough to reach the minimum wage.

    10. Furthermore, while some employers are required to “top off” pay when tips fall short, abuse of that law is rampant.

    11. 14.5% of workers in predominantly tipped occupations live in poverty.

    12. 33% of tipped workers in these occupations are parents who depend on free hot lunches to feed their children.

    13. But if the House and Senate were to pass this legislation, the tipped minimum wage would increase to 70% of the full federal minimum wage. Millions of workers—most of them women—would benefit. It’d be a profound leap forward for fairness.

    14. So there’s really just one question for the Senate this week, as we come to a vote…