The Journal

Issue date: 4/19/07 Section: News

Blunt

Though Missouri voters approved an increase in the minimum wage effective Jan. 1, 2007, many workers have not yet received that increase.


The Blunt Administration put out the wrong advice to employers in telling them to hold off from raising tipped employees' wages, said Jim Kottmeyer, spokesperson for the Save Our Tips campaign, a non-profit coalition to inform tipped employees of their rights.


The minimum wage for tipped employees was previously $2.13 an hour and is now $3.25 an hour. However, Kottmeyer said the Blunt Administration told employers on its Web site they did not need to raise their tipped employees' wages. Tipped employees include anyone working for a wage lower than the minimum wage of $6.50 an hour who receives tips from customers to make up the difference. Examples of tipped employees include servers, bartenders and bellhops.


Weber's Bar and Grill server Ben Krumm, a junior video production major said he began working there more than a month ago for the new minimum wage. Krumm said he was aware of the situation because his manager said the wage was supposed to go up.


Another Weber's server, Katy Zoeller, 24, said she saw a raise from $2.13 to $3.13 an hour, still less than the requirement. Zoeller has worked at Weber's since May 2006.


"(Servers) didn't really think the minimum wage increase would effect us," Zoeller said. "We thought it would be kept the same since we make a lower rate anyway."


Kottmeyer said these employees are legally entitled to back pay for the hours they worked before receiving an increase in wages Jan. 1. For some of these employers, that could mean paying their employees over $500 in back pay, Kottmeyer said.


"For two and a half months, Blunt butchered the law," Kottmeyer said. "The state law is straight-forward, and employers legally have to do the right thing. It's just that no one was educating workers of their rights."


Kottmeyer said workers' wages changed, not the law. He also said employees have every right to sue their employers if they do not receive back pay.


Hwy 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen at 31 S. Old Orchard Road. raised their servers' wages in March. The restaurant employs many Webster students as both servers and busboys. Manager Ryan Meyer said the restaurant raised the wages because of the new law.


"I know people are fighting it (raising wages)," Meyer said. "But as of now we have to because it's the law."

Continued...

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