This Might Be the Biggest Reason to End the Tipped Minimum Wage

Friday, 27 June 2014 10:40
By Emily DiVito, Campaign For America's Future | Op-Ed

Women represent 72 percent of all workers in tipped-wage jobs – those with a federal minimum wage of just $2.13 an hour. That means that women are disproportionately placed in the very compromising position of their having to please customers and impress employers in order to earn enough tips to have decent take-home pay.

Too often, that means enduring sexual harassment.

Thirty-seven percent of all sexual harassment reports filed at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) come from women in the restaurant industry, making it the single largest source of sexual harassment claims in the United States.