Ordinance Approved To Allow MIA Restaurants & Bars To Include Suggested Tips On Customer Checks
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Servers and bartenders at Miami International Airport are in for a bump in pay, after the Miami-Dade County Commission passed an ordinance Tuesday, allowing restaurants and bars at MIA to include suggested tips on customer checks.
According to District 12 Commissioner Jose 'Pepe' Diaz, who sponsored the law, said airport establishments will be allowed to include suggested tip amounts reaching as high as 18 percent.
However, the county is requiring that businesses make tipping sections clearly visible on checks.
Just by looking at the check, customers must be able to tell that the tip is 'suggested' and they are not obligated to pay for it.
"As an international airport, MIA serves passengers from many countries where people are not used to tipping, so this will be of great help to servers and bartenders working at the airport," Commissioner Diaz said.
Florida's minimum wage stands at $8.46, but the county says employees who receive tips can be paid as little as $5.44 an hour.
Miami-Dade County said Diaz presented the new law back in April, following reports about an investigation on the county's "violations of existing prohibition on automatic tipping at MIA."