D.C. Voters Approve Minimum Wage Hike for Tipped Workers (1)

Voters in Washington, D.C., approved a minimum wage increase for tipped workers June 19.

Minimum wage increases tend to be winning propositions when put to a popular vote. In 2016, voters in all four states with minimum wage ballot questions voted in favor.

Current law allows D.C. businesses to pay a tipped employee $3.33 per hour as long as gratuities carry the worker’s income to the city’s general hourly minimum wage of $12.50. If they don’t, the business must make up the difference.

Initiative 77—approved by just over 55 percent of voters—would incrementally raise the city’s tipped minimum ...