D.C. Tipped Worker Wage Vote Portends Action From More States

District of Columbia voters’ approval to end the subminimum wage for tipped employees highlights the momentum that worker advocates say could help them spread similar wage-law changes across the US even as the restaurant industry pushes back.

D.C.’s Initiative 82 passed on Election Day with 74% of the vote—a notable jump in support from the 55% approval that a similar ballot measure received in 2018 before the D.C. Council repealed it. No such repeal is expected this time around, and the new law will gradually phase out the tip credit and require businesses to pay tipped workers the full minimum ...