Right, my understanding is that they have to receive at least minimum wage when tips are included, and if not the employer has to make up the difference. Tipping as it's practiced today is awful for many reasons, but the minimum wage isn't one of them.
This is strictly true, but when I waited tables I was told that if I ever claimed to make less than minimum wage with tips included (and thus force them to pay me more) I'd be fired. On more than one occasion, as a result, I made less than minimum wage. Paying taxes on income you didn't even get is especially awesome in that case.
When you say one occasion, do you mean one night, or one week, or longer? I ask because one possibility (and if I had to guess, I'd say this is the case), is that the vast majority of workers on the tipped minimum wage actually make more than the minimum wage after tips.
I was referring to single shifts where they overstaffed on a light afternoon so I didn't get many tables.
Also, I didn't get very good tips compared to some of the attractive and personable young women I worked with. Generally we did make more than minimum wage after tips, especially if you considered a weekly or biweekly average.
If I ever got stiffed on a table that would come out of my check, so my worst night was where I only had a few tables and got stiffed on a big one. I ended up paying to work that night since I needed to keep the job.
