 |
| ESPC Home | | | 2005 LAP* Book | | | Background | | | Legislator Profiles | | | Key Votes | | | LAP* Book Home |
|
|
| Numeric List |
|
|
| Budget |
|
|
| Accountability |
|
|
|
Health & Human Services |
|
|
| Justice System |
|
|
| Education |
|
|
| State Employees |
|
|
|
Taxation & Revenue |
|
|
|
Wildlife & Environment |
|
|
|
Worker & Public Safety |
|
|
| Tribal Affairs |
|
|
| Senior Citizens |
|
|
2005 General Session
Current Wyoming law requires that all employers pay their employees a minimum wage of $5.15 per hour, matching the federal minimum wage. But in an interesting exception to minimum wage requirements, employers are required to pay only $2.13 per hour to tipped employees, and they are required to pay only $4.25 per hour to any employees under 20 years old for the first 90 days of employment. If the wage paid to tipped employees (as little as $2.13 per hour) combined with the tips earned by the employee during a given pay period does not equal at least $5.15 per hour, then the employer must pay the difference to the tipped employee.
HB 69 would have eliminated the reduced minimum wage for tipped employees and employees less than 20 years old.
HB 69 was supported by the Wyoming AFL-CIO, the Wyoming League of Women Voters, the Equality State Policy Center, and other advocates for worker’s rights. Proponents pointed out that tipped employees are among the lowest paid of Wyoming workers, and that employers often do not meet the statutory requirement to make up the difference when tipped employees don’t make a total of $5.15 per hour. Proponents testified that employers frequently do not explain this right to their workers, and that tipped employees often don't know their employers are supposed to do this. They also maintained that some tipped employees, even when they do know they are entitled to a total minimum wage of $5.15 an hour, are too intimidated and afraid of losing their job to request that their employer make up the difference to meet the minimum wage.
The bill was opposed by the Wyoming Hotel and Restaurant Association and some restaurant owners. Opponents of the bill claimed it would place an undue burden on small business owners if they had to pay their tipped employees more than $2.13 an hour.
The House Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee passed HB 69, 5-4. Interestingly, House Majority Floor Leader Roy Cohee (R-H35, Casper), who was the sponsor of the bill, did not schedule it for floor debate and a vote by the House Committee of the Whole before the deadline for action, so the bill died without a vote of the full chamber.
The vote listed below is the vote of the House Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee. A YES vote means the representative wanted to eliminate the reduced minimum wage for tipped employees and for employees who are under 20 years old. A NO vote means the representative did not want to eliminate the reduced minimum wage for these employees.
| House Travel, Recreation, Wildlife, and Cultural Resources Committee | Hb 68 1/21/05 |
|
| H 50 | Pat Childers (R - Cody - chairman) | No |
| H 14 | Kermit Brown (R - Laramie) | Yes |
| H 20 | Kathy Davison (R - Kemmerer) | Yes |
| H 23 | Keith Gingery (R - Jackson) | No |
| H 29 | Jerry Iekel (R - Sheridan) | No |
| H 11 | Wayne Reese (D - Cheyenne) | Yes |
| H 46 | Jim Slater (R - Laramie) | No |
| H 60 | Bill Thompson (D - Green River) | Yes |
| H 43 | Dan Zwonitzer (R - Cheyenne) | Yes |