The Albuquerque City Clerk said the group filed its accepted Notice of Intent on July 18 and now has 60 days to circulate the petitions. As of January 1, 2013, tipped workers in the city of Albuquerque started getting paid at least $3.83 an hour, plus tips.
The proposal also wants to remove the percentages the employer has to pay in cash wages. Meaning, as long as the employee gets $9.50 an hour, the employer could reduce their wage from $3.83 an hour to $2.13 an hour, the federal wage for tipped workers.
"This just allows that flexibility to that employer while still maintaining the employee gets a higher wage but gives that flexibility to the employer to be able to do it through tips and cash wages, instead of having that higher cash wage," said Smith.
The group is now trying to gather 12,091 validated signatures of registered Albuquerque voters. The deadline is September 16th. If the group gets all the signatures needed, the proposal then goes to the city council for a vote and possibly even a special election at a later date.
Even if the group gathers the signatures required, the proposal will not go on October’s ballot. More
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