Business

Bill To Increase Minimum Wage From $7.5 To $10.50 In Two Years Heads To Full Senate

ST. CROIX -- A bill sponsored by Senator Jean Forde, above, looking to raise the minimum wage from the current $7.25 rate to $10.50 by 2017, breezed through the Committee on Rules and Judiciary on Thursday at the Fritz E. Lawaetz Legislative Hall, even as leaders of the Hotel and Tourism Association sought and won an amendment that decreases the new amount tipped employees stood to gain from $1.21 to $.38. Currently, tipped employees are paid 30 percent of the the minimum wage, the justification being that tipped employees -- servers, bartenders, massage therapists and others -- earn additional pay from tips. Furthermore, if the extra income collected by tipped employees do not meet the minimum wage, the employer must pay the difference. Mr. Forde's bill sought to raise the amount that tipped employees earn from their employers on an hourly basis from 30 percent to 40 percent, but hoteliers bucked, claiming that the law would stifle an already struggling tourism industry, specific...