Dem lawmaker calls on Labor Department to rescind tip-pooling rule

[DonViejo]

Source: The Hill



BY LYDIA WHEELER - 02/01/18 12:00 PM EST

The top Democrat on the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections is calling on the Department of Labor (DOL) to withdraw it’s proposed tip-pooling rule following a report that agency officials hid an unfavorable economic analysis.

Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) called it unacceptable that the agency would hold a public comment period without giving the public access to all the information necessary to evaluate the proposed rule.

Bloomberg Law reported Thursday that senior department officials withheld a report showing that employees could lose billions of dollars in tips if the agency changes the Fair Labor Standards Act and allows employers to pool the tips of workers who make at least the federal minimum wage, which is $7.25 an hour.

The proposal did not include employees who make less than the federal minimum wage and earn tips to supplement their pay.

Read more: http://thehill.com/regulation/371822-dem-lawmaker-calls-on-labor-deparment-to-rescind-tip-pooling-rule

---

Labor Dept. Ditches Data on Worker Tips Retained by Businesses

Posted Feb. 1, 2018, 6:01 AM

Labor Department leadership scrubbed an unfavorable internal analysis from a new tip pooling proposal, shielding the public from estimates that showed employees could lose out on billions of dollars in gratuities, four current and former DOL sources tell Bloomberg Law.

The agency shelved the economic analysis, compiled by DOL staff, from a December proposal to scrap an Obama administration rule. The proposal would permit tip pooling arrangements that involve restaurant servers and other workers who make tips and back-of-the-house workers who don’t. It sparked outrage from worker advocates who said the move would permit management to essentially skim gratuities by participating in the pools themselves.

Senior department political officials—faced with a government analysis showing that workers could lose billions of dollars in tips as a result of the proposal—ordered staff to revise the data methodology to lessen the expected impact, several of the sources said. Although later calculations showed progressively reduced tip losses, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta and his team are said to have still been uncomfortable with including the data in the proposal. The officials disagreed with assumptions in the analysis that employers would retain their employees’ gratuities, rather than redistribute the money to other hourly workers. They wound up receiving approval from the White House to publish a proposal Dec. 5 that removed the economic transfer data altogether, the sources said.

The move to drop the analysis means workers, businesses, advocacy groups, and others who want to weigh in on the tip pool proposal will have to do so without seeing the government’s estimate first. The public notice-and-comment period for the proposal is set to end Feb. 5.

more
https://bnanews.bna.com/daily-labor-report/labor-dept-ditches-data-on-worker-tips-retained-by-businesses

[vkkv]

1. Because RePigLickins are all about transparency... nt

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. "We're deeply troubled to learn that @USDOL buried the estimated cost of its #TipTheft rule."

Retweeted by LambdaLegal: https://twitter.com/LambdaLegal

We're deeply troubled to learn that @USDOL buried the estimated cost of its #TipTheft rule. If finalized, the rule would take billions of dollars from tipped working people, the vast majority of whom are women, and disproportionately women of color. http://bit.ly/2ny6F6s

Link to tweet

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. Labor Department leadership scrubbed an unfavorable internal analysis on a new tip pooling proposal,

Labor Department leadership scrubbed an unfavorable internal analysis on a new tip pooling proposal, shielding the public from estimates that potentially billions of dollars in tips could be transferred from workers to their employers under new rule

Link to tweet