Prince George's Co. restaurant employees hold rally against proposed tip credit bill

LARGO, Md. (7News) — As leaders in Montgomery and Prince George's counties discussed a bill that would limit tip credits for servers and bartenders, a state restaurant group is made its case Thursday against it.

Restaurant employees and officials with the Restaurant Association of Maryland (RAM) held a rally at 11:30 a.m., just before marching to the Wayne Curry Administration Building in Largo, Maryland, in opposition to the proposal in Prince George's County.

In the face of significant opposition from restaurant workers, the Prince George's Council indefinitely tabled the bill.

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According to text from the legislation, all tipped employees working in the County would have needed to be paid minimum wage in addition to any tips by 2028. The Tip Credit will be gradually decreased over the next (5) years until the base wage for all tipped employees is the County's minimum wage.

In a statement, they argued that removing tip credits for many workers would significantly reduce the wages of servers and bartenders who they say could make on average $27 per hour or more, citing research from the National Restaurant Association.

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The group also said that currently under federal, state, and local minimum wage laws, restaurant tipped employees must earn at least the full applicable minimum wage in base wages plus tips.

"Restaurant server earnings would significantly decrease if the tip credit was eliminated because most restaurants would be forced to impose a service charge on customer checks to cover the substantially higher labor costs," RAM said in a statement.