WP: D.C. Voters Approve Initiative to Raise Minimum Wage for Tipped Workers to $15

Washington D.C. residents voted on Tuesday to raise the minimum wage to $15 for tipped workers, reports the Washington Post.

Restaurant owners in the District will have two years to raise the wages of tipped staff to meet the minimum wage requirements that apply to all other industries, which by 2020 will be $15 an hour. Currently, minimum wage for tipped workers in D.C. is $3.33 an hour.

The ballot measure, dubbed Initiative 77, was introduced by a New York-based advocacy group pushing to raise the minimum wage for tipped workers nation-wide.

The measure has predictably roiled local restaurant owners, many of whom warn of the initiative’s potential to drive business and talent out of D.C.

“You can’t afford to give somebody a 500 percent pay raise and not have it come from somewhere,” said Jeff Black, owner of BlackSalt and Pearl Dive Oyster Bar. “All my best servers will leave this city. They will move out and . . . take jobs in Maryland and Virginia.”