Evanston’s Human Services Committee is scheduled to vote Monday on a plan to eliminate the sub-minimum wage for tipped workers.
The ordinance, proposed by Ald. Devon Reid (8th) would also increase the minimum wage for large employers to match that imposed by the City of Chicago.
Non-tipped minimum wage
| Effective [1] | Illinois | Cook County | Chicago [2] | Evanston [3] |
| 2023 | $13.00 | $13.70 | $15.80 | $13.70 |
| 2024 [4] | $14.00 | $14.05 | $16.25 | $16.25 [proposed] |
| 2025 [4] | $15.00 | $15.00 | $16.70 | $16.70 [proposed] |
2 – The Chicago minimum wage shown applies to businesses with 21 or more workers. The minimum is $0.80 less for firms with 4 to 20 employees.
3 – The proposed Evanston rates shown, effective starting in 2024, would apply to businesses 51 or more employees. The minimum would be $0.75 less for firms with 4 to 50 employees.
4 – County, Chicago and proposed Evanston ordinances provide an an annual CPI-based increase capped at 2.5% and rounded up to the nearest $0.05. Figures shown assume a 2.5% increase. The county and proposed Evanston ordinances also provide for instead using the state or federal minimums, if they are higher.
The Chicago ordinance and the proposed Evanston ordinance do set slightly lower minimum wages for small employers. Chicago considers any firm with more than 20 employees a large employer. Evanston’s ordinance would apply the large employer rate to businesses with more than 50 employees. Both ordinances exempt businesses with three or fewer employees.
Tipped minimum wage
| Effective [1] | Illinois | Cook County | Chicago [2] | Evanston [3] |
| 2023 | $7.80 | $8.00 | $9.48 | $8.00 |
| 2024 [4] | $8.40 | $8.40 | $9.75 | $16.25 [proposed] |
| 2025 [4] | $9.00 | $9.00 | $10.00 | $16.70 [proposed] |
2 – The Chicago minimum wage shown applies to businesses with 21 or more workers. The minimum is $0.48 less for firms with 4 to 20 employees.
3 – The proposed Evanston rates shown, effective starting in 2024, would apply to businesses 51 or more employees. The minimum would be $0.75 less for firms with 4 to 50 employees..
4 -The County, Chicago and proposed Evanston ordinances provide an an annual CPI-based increase capped at 2.5% and rounded up to the nearest $0.05. Figures shown assume a 2.5% increase. The county and proposed Evanston ordinances also provide for instead using the state or federal minimums, if they are higher.
Cook County’s minimum wage ordinance applies in 18 communities, including Evanston, that have not opted out of it and that, unlike Chicago, don’t have their own minimum wage ordinance.
In the 117 Cook County communities that have opted out of the county’s minimum wage ordinance, the state minimum wage applies.
The minimum wage hike proposal has drawn opposition from many business owners — especially from restaurateurs who would be hit by the dramatic hike in the tipped minimum wage.
But a similar proposal to eliminate the lower, tipped wage was introduced in Chicago last month with the backing of Mayor Brandon Johnson and several council members.
Final action on the Evanston proposal would be up to the full City Council.
The range for increases in tipped workers is way out of line from other areas including Chicago. One has to assume the restaurant owners will be crippled. Wondering if CM Reid crunched the numbers on whether Evanston restaurants would be able to absorb those hikes? CM Reid has made a habit of carelessly assuming folks will be willing and able to afford the taxes and charges he has proposed in the past.
There needs to be a movement Fight for 15 %. With all these recent wage increases for tipped workers we need to return to a time when 15% tip was considered the standard. Getting out of control.
Well, if restaurant workers are making the same as everyone else, truly we need to move to a European-type system where diners are paying 15% more for meals in the first place and then just tip like one or two Euros as a courtesy. The mentality should be that there’s no need to tip once wages are equalized (and I’m sure Mr. Pink would agree). Of course, this would work better at a state or national level than a municipal one because it throws Evanston out of whack with surrounding suburbs.
Well, first off, there does need to be a minimum wage hike.
Secondly, when that wage hike happens people will be fired – those that are fired will be the unreliable & lazy.
Thirdly, Those who will reap the benefits of that rate increase will be the reliable, trustworthy and hard working. They will get that extra $1-$2 rate hike. Less workers but it will be the better workers and they will bust their a$$ for you. That’s what you want. Weed out the weak.
Fourthly, those who are fired will collect unemployment until it runs out and then go find another job. That cycle will probably continue for some throughout their entire lives because we allow it happen #DevonReid.
Hopefully for others they will get sick of that cycle and wake up to the reality of you have to work, you have to find a steady job and you have to pay your bills. YOU HAVE TO CONTRIBUE TO SOCIETY AT SOME POINT.
That’s how it works. That’s business. That’s life.
#EvanstoniansFirst
If the tipped wage increases, then restaurant prices will increase. And a lot of people will figure that since they don’t tip other minimum wage workers such as fast food workers, there’s no reason to tip waiters anymore either. Result? Waiters who now make more than minimum wage will see their income shrink, restaurant owners will see fewer customers due to higher prices, and everyone will come out a loser except Devon Reid who won’t be happy until Evanston (and presumably all of America) is collectivized and all private enterprise is eliminated.
I’d suggest he (and the entire Council) take a course in basic economics, as they time and again display their ignorance.
100% agree w/this sentiment. Also note that tips are often paid in cash & frequently go unreported. This is a side benefit for low hourly wage employees that we all understand. When the wage goes up, the taxed income also rises. The result? Less tip $ & more paid taxes for the workers Reid proposes to be helping. Not sure that’s assisting anyone.
Oddly – I know too many people who have worked much of their lives in jobs which did not require reporting all of their income as taxable wages. I am dismayed at how many of these people, as they approach age 62, are now lamenting they did not report more of their wages when they see the disparity of their projected SSI benefit vs. the projection of those whose corporate wages were entirely reported for income tax purposes.
I think we need to better educate young workers that “cheating the system” in their youth may result in their being cheated in their mature years. Then again, who knows how long SSI will be able to make their promised payments. My father, who died in 1982, never expected to see a dollar from his social security tax withholding. He was literally amazed every month he got that check.
The proposed hike in the minimum wage will hurt those it aims to help. It’s like smashing the thermometer in an attempt to cure the patient. A wage tells you what employers are willing to pay. If you raise it, they will find ways to get by with fewer workers.
CM Reid is already working on that. Charge a fee to retailers that use self-service checkouts. No doubt he’ll keep looking for ways to charge or tax businesses no matter how they eliminate employees. Nevermind that I, as a customer, PREFER to scan my own groceries. I am depriving someone of a job as a cashier by using a self-service checkout.
I’m in my last days of a 2 week vacation to Italy and I must say I kind of like the no (or little) tipping policy. We’ve had mostly excellent service and only 1-2 bad experiences where I wished I could express my dissatisfaction with a smaller tip. (Like 15% instead of 20%)
But obviously that’s not what this is. This is just nonsense from a nonsensical council member.
How are we allowing a city council member who himself has never successfully held down a job to determine economic realities in Evanston?
Forced wage targets will drive significant reductions in unreported tips.
The restaurant owners with good business will simply leave the city. We have found it’s very convenient to drive to Wilmette or Skokie.
Devon – have you ever successfully completed a basic course in economics?
Why does Evanston consistently elect the economically illiterate to office?
The next elections cannot come soon enough.. I hope Evanstonians will make better choices this time around.
As someone involved in food service, I can assure you that raising minimum wage will result in these very hard working people making LESS MONEY. Council must understand how businesses work before they regulate. I believe only one council member is employed. None have had recent long term employment or business skills. The mayor has not had a job outside of academia. The City Manager was in IT. The economic development decisions are being made by Sara Flax, who for years was basically a grant writer for low income housing providers. This is a very dangerous time to be a business owner in Evanston. People with no real experience in economics, development, planning, or basic finances are making massive financial decisions that effect thousands of people.
The Chicago Tribune today, August 23rd, deals with this issue in its editorial today titled: “When it comes to restaurants and tipping, Brandon Johnson’s allies should be careful what they wish for”
Bottom line of article & my take away, this is a horrible idea for restaurants which Evanston desperately needs to keep as well as attract.
I’m no economist but even an ordinary person, such as me, can see that the city council would be derelict in its duties if it didn’t reject this idea.
The NY Times today, August 23rd, deals with issue in its article titled: “In a hot US. jobs market, the minimum wage becomes an afterthought.”
It basically argues at length, with reason IMO, that a federal minimum wage would be pretty meaningless at this point.The question it poses, but chose not to explore in but a short paragraph, is what would happen if the job market cooled. This question really stuck in my mind since the ebb & flow of the economy is inevitable.
As for the tipping issue, read today’s (August 23rd) editorial in the Chicago Tribune for it addresses this issue head-on by focusing on restaurants.
I fervently wish the city council would take a longer, more reasoned view on ALL issues.