---
title: "WP: D.C. Voters Approve Initiative to Raise Minimum Wage for Tipped Workers to $15"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/e4b86805-69ae-446a-92c6-23e4b91ab6a8
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/wp-dc-voters-approve-initiative-to-raise-minimum-wage-for-tipped-workers-to-15-2706939
category: "Regulation"
topics: ["Regulation & legal","Operations"]
published: 2018-06-22T16:11:26.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T02:36:47.026Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/bb1624ab0785e9d7151f45ce2e4a0d583160.jpg
---

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

**TL;DR:** Washington D.C. residents voted to raise the minimum wage to $15 for tipped workers. Restaurant owners in the District will have two years to raise the wages of tipped staff to meet the minimum wage requirements.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2018-06-22. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/wp-dc-voters-approve-initiative-to-raise-minimum-wage-for-tipped-workers-to-15-2706939).*

## Story

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.”

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- General (sector)
- restaurant industry (topic)
- Virginia (location)
- Maryland (location)
- regulation (topic)
- Washington, D.C. (location)
- minimum wage (topic)
- tipped workers (topic)
- Initiative 77 (regulator)

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Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/wp-dc-voters-approve-initiative-to-raise-minimum-wage-for-tipped-workers-to-15-2706939). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/e4b86805-69ae-446a-92c6-23e4b91ab6a8).