Tipping your servers 15-20% is standard. But what if Chicago requires they get paid full minimum wage?
CHICAGO - Ali Baker, a server at Dos Urban Cantina in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood, feels lucky to work where she does. Her boss is kind, the restaurant is well regarded, and tips can be very good.
But on slow weeks, or when customers aren't feeling so generous, Baker gets nervous. Like most restaurant servers across Chicago, Baker earns a base hourly wage of $6.40 an hour and relies on tips for the bulk of her income. Fluctuating paychecks - $200 on a bad week, $700 on a good one - can make it tough to pay bills.
"It's depressing because I don't feel like I can plan," said Baker, 36, who is working part-time while she gets her associate degree and hopes to eventually get a master's in social work. "I don't know if I can rely on this job to have a kid or get a house. That just seems impossible."
A proposed ordinance being considered by Chicago aldermen aims to tackle the unpredictability of the tipping system by eliminating the subminimum wage that allows employers to count workers' gratuities toward their base pay.
Under the proposal, employers who now pay tipped workers as little as $6.40 an hour would have to pay them the regular minimum wage - which
