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Eliminating New York’s tip credit is a terrible idea
March 2024 · Rebekah Paxton · The Buffalo News
Legislation to eliminate the tip credit in New York won’t empower restaurant workers. Special interest groups like One Fair Wage don’t speak for workers, who would suffer the real life consequences of fewer jobs, lower tips, and shuttered workplaces. Tipped restaurant employees earn differently, and far more, than other minimum wage employees. Currently, New York law requires restaurants to pay a $10 base hourly wage upstate ($10.65… -
Misplaced outrage over Panera Bread’s carveout from fast-food law
March 2024 · Michael Saltsman · Orange County Register
In a rare showing of Sacramento bipartisanship, Republicans and Democrats this week were at odds with Governor Gavin Newsom. A report in Bloomberg alleged that a bakery exemption in the state’s forthcoming $20 fast-food wage was inserted to help one of the governor’s campaign donors, a franchisee of Panera Bread. (In separate statements, the Governor and the franchisee denied the allegation.) Republicans responded by calling for investigations;… -
The SEIU’s fake fast food union
February 2024 · Michael Saltsman · Orange County Register
Five years ago, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) announced an aggressive plan to create “Unions For All.” Today in California, that vision looks exceedingly small. How else to react to the forthcoming statewide launch of a so-called fast food workers’ union? This new entity is not a union in the traditional sense, it has no self-sustaining funding source, and no employer is obligated to bargain with… -
A $15 Minimum Wage in Oklahoma is a Recipe for Disaster
January 2024 · Rebekah Paxton · The Oklahoman
The fate of Oklahoma’s hospitality industry may soon be in the hands of its people. A proposed ballot measure would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, spelling disaster for the state’s businesses and tens of thousands of employees. It could be voted on as soon as November 2024. On its face, this “one size fits all” policy seems like a great solution to combat inflation by putting… -
Restaurants should be wary of latest food safety training program
January 2024 · Rebekah Paxton · Orange County Register
A new law in California now requires restaurants to compensate employees for state-mandated food handler certifications. But the law has been weaponized by advocacy groups looking to push their own training programs. One Fair Wage (OFW) – a union-backed activist group that wants to end the tipping system around the country – launched a course aimed at advancing its own political goals. However, a draft we reviewed… -
Why No One Goes Out to Eat in D.C. Anymore
January 2024 · Michael Saltsman and Rebekah Paxton · The Wall Street Journal
The restaurant scene in the District of Columbia is dying, and public policy is to blame. As recently as 2016, the nation’s capital received its first Michelin Guide and accolades from the country’s top food magazines. In 2018 the editor of Bon Appétit declared that Washington was “having a moment,” with some restaurants so popular that patrons would wait an hour to get a bite. But that…