In an upstairs lounge area at Tavern on South in downtown Indianapolis, Sen. Mike Braun (R) spoke with restaurant owners who face the probability of more changes to the way their businesses operate. One of those changes could have an effect on the livelihoods of servers and tipped employees.

“Restaurants and hotels in particular right noe are hanging on by a thread,” said Patrick Tamm, president and CEO of the Indiana Restaurant and Lodging Association, one of the people sitting at the table with Braun. “What they’re talking about in the ‘Raise the Wage Act’ is a complete misnomer. This would eliminate wages, reduce wages in half, if not more, for many tipped employees.”

That piece of legislation being put together in the U.S. House, is meant to give as many as 32 million people a raise by gradually bringing the federal minimum wage up to $15 per hour.

A summary from the Dept. of Labor, says the bill would not eliminate tips for servers, but would eliminate the subminimum tip wage. That means that servers would be guaranteed to be paid minimum wage, potentially forcing restaurants to change how they operate because of the added cost.

Right now, restaurants can more easily afford to employ servers, paying them a little over $2 per hour, with the server’s pay being made up in tips.

“Our servers in a restaurant, our tipped employees consistently make more than $15 an hour,” said Tamm.”Tipped employees rely on those tips to make $30 an hour, make $25 an hour. But, they make significantly more than $15 an hour.”

With employees costing more, restaurant owners may be forced to employ fewer people.

Braun said he believes the plan to raise the minimum wage is a one-size-fits-all approach that won’t work because the cost of living is different in different places across the country.

“Some of the highest wages out there are through the tipped wage method,” he said. “If you went to the forced minimum wage that didn’t incorporate the tipped wage concept, you’d add a ton of fixed costs to the restaurant. Most owners are talking about having to change their format.”

He said he believes it’s an example of the government trying to fix something that isn’t broken.

“The restaurant business, on top of having this thrown at them, has been the category most ravaged by a lot of the bureaucratic approaches to addressing COVID from the get-go.”

Braun said he believes with a few Democratic votes against the “Raise the Wage Act”, that it will die in the Senate.