(The Center Square) – Illinois lawmakers advanced a measure that would strip cities like Chicago of the power to raise wages for tipped workers, allowing the state to exclusively oversee rules that could halt the city’s push to phase out the subminimum wage.
House Bill 4263 would prevent local governments from setting rules regarding tips counting towards an hourly wage, making regulation of the allowance an exclusive power of the Illinois state government.
In the state, if a worker’s hourly pay plus tips doesn’t add up to at least the minimum wage, the employer has to make up the difference. Cities and counties are also allowed to set higher wage standards for the workers they oversee.
The bill preempts coming wage hikes for tipped workers in Chicago who make a sub-minimum wage, which is the next in a series of increases designed to completely sunset the tipped wage structure in the city under the 2023 One Fair Wage ordinance.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson vetoed a city council vote to stop the 2023 measure Wednesday afternoon.
Sam Toia, president and CEO of the Illinois Restaurant Association, testified in favor of the bill, saying it would provide consistency for workers and job creation for Illinois.
“It guarantees that every worker earns at least the full minimum wage while allowing tips to remain an important part of income for servers, bartenders, and support staff,” Toia said. “This is extremely important considering how, as of now, the tip credit can vary widely from one place to another.”
Of the current system, Toia said it creates issues for small business restaurant owners looking to expand, especially in the Chicagoland area where there are different minimum wage and tip wage levels between wards and municipalities that are side by side.
Jeremy Rosen from the Workers Center for Racial Justice testified against the bill, saying it would reverse recent wage increases for at least 40,000 service industry workers in the state.
“This is called preemption and it stifles the type of local innovation that has frequently led to pro-worker laws covering the entire state,” Rosen said. “Typically, instead of enacting preemption bills, this committee and the General Assembly have seen state labor laws as a floor, not a ceiling.”
Toia said in his testimony that the preemption of local oversight would not lower wages, saying the average restaurant employee currently earns nearly $29 an hour, which is far beyond the minimum wage.
Rep. Lilian Jiménez, D-Chicago, spoke passionately regarding the bill, saying she is disappointed the committee is hearing the bill instead of policy that would address affordable wages for Illinoisans.
“I know how this works and I’m telling you that people go home from a hard day’s work and do not have a penny to show for it. And for us to come here in this moment and say we’re going to make that life worse for them is a disappointment.”
The committee voted to recommend the bill pass 22-4, with Jiménez among the opposition.
