S-1899.1  _______________________________________________

                    SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5738

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      55th Legislature     1997 Regular Session

By Senate Committee on Commerce & Labor (originally sponsored by Senators Horn, Haugen, Schow, Wood, McDonald and Winsley)

Read first time 03/04/97.

Prohibiting employers from requiring employees to turn over tips.

    AN ACT Relating to compensation for employment; and adding a new section to chapter 49.46 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 49.46 RCW to read as follows:

    (1) All tips given to a tipped employee by a customer are the property of that employee, and the employer may not require that the tip be given to the employer.  However, the employer may consider the tips as wages to be used toward satisfying the requirements of RCW 49.46.020 with respect to the amount that the minimum wage rate in effect under RCW 49.46.020 exceeds four dollars and ninety cents per hour.  The amount of tips considered as wages by an employer shall not exceed the value of tips actually received by the employee.

    (2) This section does not prohibit the pooling of tips among employees who customarily and regularly receive tips.

    (3) For the purposes of this section, "tipped employee" means any employee engaged in an occupation in which he or she customarily and regularly receives more than thirty dollars a month in tips.

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