Should minimum wage be lower for workers who get tips? These 2 states will decide

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FILE- A waitress serves food in a busy restaurant. (Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Voters in Arizona and Massachusetts will decide whether businesses should be able to continue to pay tipped workers like servers and bartenders a lower minimum wage than non-tipped employees.

What’s on the ballot in Arizona?

Arizona voters are determining whether to approve a measure supported by state Republicans and the Arizona Restaurant Association called Prop 138, also known as the Tipped Workers Protection Act, which would amend Arizona’s constitution by adding a stipulation that regulates pay for tipped workers, FOX 10 Phoenix reported.

If approved by voters, an employer will be permitted to pay up to 25% per hour less than the minimum wage for employees who receive tips or gratuities. FOX 10 Phoenix notes that the employer will have to establish that the employee in question is paid at least the minimum wage plus $2 per hour, for all hours worked.

Proposition 138 was first proposed as a response to a ballot measure pushed by One Fair Wage, a not-for-profit that works to end the subminimum wage, that would create a single minimum wage of $18, but the group abandoned the effort after threats of litigation from the restaurant association over how it collected signatures.

Arizona Republican state Sen. J.D. Mesnard, the sponsor of Proposition 138, tells the AP that the measure is a win for both businesses and lower-wage workers.

Additionally, One Fair Wage is trying to pass a wage hike in the Legislature. Arizona Democratic State Rep. Mariana Sandoval tells the AP that she hopes her party in November can flip the Legislature, where Republicans hold a one-seat majority in both chambers.

Arizona employers can pay their tipped workers $3 less hourly than other workers. Under current rates, that means tipped workers' base pay is $11.35 an hour, the Associated Press reported. Currently, the hourly minimum wage in Arizona is $14.35 and increases yearly according to inflation.

What’s on the ballot in Massachusetts?

In Massachusetts, voters will decide on a measure to increase the state’s tipped worker wage — currently $6.75 per hour — until it meets the regular minimum wage by January 2029. This measure was proposed by One Fair Wage.

According to the AP, if voters approve the measure, Massachusetts would join seven states that have a single minimum wage. Michigan will soon join that group after an August state Supreme Court ruling initiated a phase-out of the subminimum wage.

Are other states considering wage ballot measures?

In California, voters will choose whether to raise the hourly minimum wage from $16 to $18 by 2026 in what would be the highest statewide minimum wage in the country.

And Alaska and Missouri have measures that would gradually raise minimum wages to $15 an hour while also requiring paid sick leave.

In the last two years, Washington, D.C., and Chicago also have started to eliminate the subminimum wage.

The amount tipped workers make varies by state, with the AP reporting that 14 states pay the federal minimum, or just above $2 an hour for tipped workers and $7 an hour for non-tipped workers.