Media clips
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Labor Department accused of burying data
CBS Moneywatch/Kate Gibson
The agency offered the proposal without providing an estimate of how much would be shifted from workers to employers under the new rule. The Economic Policy Institute, a liberal-leaning research firm, projected that the rule would cost servers $5.8 billion a year. “There is no way to do a good face estimate and maintain the fiction that this rule isn’t terrible for workers,” said Heidi Shierholz, who previously served as chief economist for the Labor Department, in a conference call on Thursday arranged by EPI.
CBS News Moneywatch February 2, 2018 -
Bloomberg Law wasn’t able to obtain specific numbers in the analysis, but the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a nonprofit think tank based in Washington, D.C., estimates the amount to be “well into the billions,” Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist at the EPI, said in a press conference on Thursday. An EPI-conducted analysis shows that the DOL’s proposed rule change would allow employers to take $5.8 billion of tip income a year from their workers. The amount represents about 16 percent of the total tips earned a year by workers in the U.S., and 80 percent of the impact will be on women workers. Shierholz said the analysis used the same data as the DOL and a similar methodology. “This is an outrageous process violation, and completely overturns 40 years of consistent interpretation of the Fair Labor Standards Act,” Shierholz said. (Heidi quoted throughout)
New York Observer February 2, 2018 -
So just how much did the DOL find the rule would cost workers? It’s unclear. But the Economic Policy Institute came up with an estimate that found that the new tip pooling rule could prompt employers to pocket as much as $5.8 billion in tips earned by restaurant workers each year. “This shows the lengths to which the Trump administration and Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta will go to hide the fact that they are taking steps to actively make workers’ lives worse,” Heidi Shierholz, EPI’s senior economist and a former chief economist for Obama’s DOL, said in a statement.
The American Prospect February 2, 2018 -
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found in an analysis last month that employers could pocket $5.8 billion in gratuities earned by their employees each year as a result of the rule. In a statement Thursday, the EPI said the Bloomberg Law report shows the lengths to which the Trump administration and Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta will go to hide the fact that they are taking steps to make workers’ lives worse. “DOL should release its analysis immediately or, better yet, withdraw its proposal and refocus on its mission of serving working people, not big business,” Heidi Shierholz, the EPI’s senior economist and director of policy, said.
The Hill February 2, 2018 -
It’s difficult to put an exact number to how much tip income is in jeopardy, as several states across the country have more specific legislation that protects worker pay. A December EPI study looking into the potential impacts of the rule change noted that 15 states have particularly protective tip policies, including California, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Utah. But restaurant industry lobbying groups have long fought against the Obama-era provision that first protected the earnings of tipped workers. In a statement issued last year, Angelo Amador, the executive director of the Restaurant Law Center, said Obama’s Labor Department was “unfairly discriminating against restaurant employees who work in the back-of-the-house” by enforcing the rule and that “restaurant workers’ rights cannot be subjected to this overstep of authority.” Neither the National Employment Law Project nor the Economic Policy Institute expressed immediate plans Thursday to challenge Trump’s Labor Department in court – but neither specifically ruled out such an option to reporters on Thursday’s call.
U.S. News and World Report February 2, 2018 -
According to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a nonprofit think tank, the change could cost American workers up to $5.8 billion in tips. Women would be hurt the most, with $4.6 billion coming from women-dominated service industries, from servers and bartenders to hair stylists.
Salon February 2, 2018 -
The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, has released its own study of the issue, which suggests that $5.8 billion in tips would be taken from workers by owners each year, a little more than a 16% of all annual gratuities.
Quartz February 2, 2018 -
While the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) also called on the department to “release its analysis immediately or, better yet, withdraw its proposal and refocus on its mission of serving working people, not big business,” the group has released its own analysis outlining the likely consequences of the proposed “tip stealing” rule (pdf).
EPI’s analysis predicts that if the department’s proposal is finalized:
- tipped workers would lose $5.8 billion a year in tips, with $4.6 billion of that coming from the pockets of women working in tipped jobs;
- the take-home pay of back-of-the-house or other nontipped workers would remain largely unchanged; and
- restaurant owners and other employers of tipped workers would get a $5.8 billion a year windfall.
Common Dreams February 2, 2018 -
Well, about that. Bloomberg reports that the Department of Labor did in fact complete a study on how much money employers would steal from their workers, but senior officials ordered staff not to include it in the final proposal because it happened to show that “workers could lose billions of dollars in tips as a result of the proposal.” (A week after the study-less proposal was released, the Economic Policy Institute releasedits own study showing that employers would pocket $5.8 billion of workers’ tips.) According to Bloomberg, the department leadership was “uncomfortable” with everyone knowing exactly how fucked this proposal is:
Splinter News February 2, 2018 -
The Department of Labor said it will publish a quantitative analysis of a proposed change to a tip pool rule — but not before the comment period has ended. “As previously stated, after receiving public comment, the department intends to publish an informed cost-benefit analysis as part of any final rule,” a DOL spokesperson said. The comments come after Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration suppressed an internal analysis showing the rule change would transfer billions from restaurant employees to business owners. The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute published its own analysis in January claiming workers would lose $5.8 billion in tips. Democratic lawmakers demanded the administration rescind the proposed rule in light of the revelations. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), ranking member on the Senate HELP Committee, accused the DOL of a “botched cover-up” and said the Trump administration should “abandon this effort immediately.” In a notice of proposed rulemaking posted in December, DOL said it “has asked some specific questions that may help the Department quantify benefits and transfers.” The rule remains open for comment until Feb. 5.
Politico Pro February 2, 2018