It’s been a fierce D.C. debate for years: How much should the tipped minimum wage be?
It’s typically lower, with workers expected to make up the rest in tips. The business covers the difference if they don’t.
Under Initiative 82, the tipped minimum wage has now gone up from $5.35 an hour to $10 an hour. It was supposed to keep going up every year until 2027, when it would be the same as the regular D.C. minimum wage, but Mayor Muriel Bowser says she believes that’s no longer feasible for employers because of tough economic times.
“It would be negligent for us to act like we’re in the same place we were three years ago,” Bowser said.
She is now calling for a repeal of Initiative 82.
It passed in 2022 with about three quarters of D.C. voters saying “yes” to the higher tipped minimum wage.
“If people voted for it, I think you have to listen to the voice of the people,” said Amy Weinberg, who voted for Initiative 82.
“I have to tell you, most people who go out can afford to pay a little bit more,” Norbert Hornsetin, a District resident, said.
But some business owners say they can’t afford the extra costs.
Two District restaurants closed within the past month: Sticky Rice on H Street and Haikan in Shaw. Both cited Initiative 82 and other financial challenges.
“Restaurants are closing, one and a half per week, and we need to do something to stop the bleeding,” said Shawn Townsend, the president and CEO of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington.
Townsend said he’s glad Bowser wants to repeal Initiative 82.
“This gives some of our neighborhood — our small local independent restaurants — some hope to fight another day, to stay open and continue doing something they love to do,” he said.
But restaurants aren’t the only businesses affected. Many tipped workers in D.C. work for nail or hair salons or as parking lot attendants. The hospitality union UNITE HERE said it plans to rally at the Wilson Building Tuesday morning as members push to keep the higher wages.
“Just as a knee jerk, to reach your hands into workers’ pockets, seems to us patently wrong,” said Paul Schwalb, the executive secretary-treasurer for UNITE HERE Local 25.
The specifics of Mayor Bowser’s plan for repealing Initiative 82 aren’t yet clear. It will be part of her 2026 budget, which she has not yet presented to the D.C. Council.
Former server Ryan O’Leary, who proposed Initiative 82, issued a statement today calling the plan a “betrayal” and vowed to fight it.
