D.C. residents are now starting to get their mail ballots, and as they do, they’ll notice the usual races on the front side — mayor, attorney general, a few seats on the D.C. Council, and so on. But flip the ballot over and they will be presented not with a choice between candidates, but rather a choice between policies.

This November, D.C. voters will be asked to weigh in on Initiative 82, a ballot measure that if passed would phase out the tipped wage that’s paid to many workers in bars, restaurants, nail salons, and parking lots. It’s not a new issue for many; D.C. voters chose to eliminate the tipped wage in 2018, before the D.C. Council stepped in to keep it. But it’s still as confusing as it is contentious.

Below is just about everything you need to know about Initiative 82. (And here’s our full voter guide for the Nov. 8 election.)

Just what is the tipped wage?

As in most places across the country, in D.C. some workers — including those in bars, restaurants, nail salons, and parking lots — are paid a subminimum wage of $5.35 an hour by their employer, and are allowed to collect tips on top of that. (In Virginia the tipped wage is $2.13, and in Maryland it’s $3.63.) If those tips bring their total compensation up to or above the prevailing minimum wage (which is currently $16.10 an hour in D.C.), their employer owes them nothing more. But if the tips fall short, the employer has to make up the difference to the minimum wage. The tipped wage is also known as the tip credit.

So what would Initiative 82 do?

In short, Initiative 82 would phase out the tipped wage, increasing the subminimum wage employers have to pay until it equals the city’s prevailing minimum wage by 2027. It would not officially ban tips, but rather remove them from the calculation of how much workers make, putting the responsibility of paying the full minimum wage entirely on the employer.

Wait, didn’t we already vote on this?

Yes. Back during the 2018 D.C. primary, 55% of of voters approved Initiative 77, which would similarly have phased out the tipped wage. But faced with opposition from the hospitality industry, the D.C. Council overturned the voter-approved initiative.

Who’s behind Initiative 82?

Formally speaking, the D.C. Committee to Build A Better Restaurant Industry, and the initiative’s main proponent is Ryan O’Leary, a former D.C. server who was laid off during the pandemic. He then became a paid organizer with One Fair Wage, a national group seeking to eliminate the tipped wage that participated in the push for Initiative 77 four years ago.

The committee has raised more than $300,000, the majority coming from the Open Society Policy Center, an arm of the Open Society Network. Much of that money was spent on the effort to collect the signatures to get the initiative on the ballot.

Who’s behind the campaign against Initiative 82?

The Vote No on 82 campaign is linked to the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington and has been bankrolled in significant part by the National Restaurant Association and large restaurant groups, both locally based and national.

So far the campaign has raised more than $400,000 (much of which was spent on legal fights to try and keep the initiative off the ballot), with big contributions from the National Restaurant Association ($121,000), Founding Farmers ($40,000), Barcelona Wine Bar ($20,000), and $10,000 apiece from Great American Restaurants, Thompson Hospitality, Silver Diner, Glory Days Grill, CGD (Chef Geoff’s), and José Andrés’s Think Food Group. (Andrés also opposed Initiative 77, but in 2020 signed a letter urging the governor of New York to eliminate the tipped wage there.)

What are the arguments for keeping the tipped wage in place?

Opponents of Initiative 82 say that the tipped wage accomplishes two goals: it can keep operating costs down for employers (especially in places like bars and restaurants, where profit margins can be quite tight) and can allow employees to make far above the prevailing minimum wage.

“[The] consequences of elimination of the tip credit include: exponentially increased labor costs, increased menu prices, staff reductions, and service charges. Establishments will have to either close down or shift their business models toward counter service, eliminating the need for half the staff. This change will ultimately take the service out of full-service restaurants,” bartender Valerie Torres told DCist/WAMU.

In an op-ed published in The Washington Post, Warren Thompson, the president of Thompson Hospitality — which owns and operates Matchbox, The Delegate, Milk & Honey, and other establishments — raised similar concerns. “The industry is unique because though workers require little experience, the earnings potential through tips is high. The tipping model in the United States provides the opportunity for many restaurant workers to earn far beyond minimum wage while they never make less than the minimum wage,” he wrote.

Opponents of the initiative also say it couldn’t come at a worse time or a worse place. Not only are many bars and restaurants still struggling to survive in a post-pandemic world, but they say that D.C. is a small place bordered by Maryland and Virginia, which are not currently considering such a change.

“I am a firm believer that we just don’t do these kinds of efforts in isolation,” said Kathy Hollinger, the recently departed president of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington, in a recent interview with Washingtonian. “We have to think about regional implications. We have to think about what else is happening around the country. If conversations happen on eliminating the tip credit, it should not happen in one market. It should happen as a national dialogue, so that there is some level playing field in thinking about how to address this issue, if people feel it needs to be addressed.”

“You couldn’t really ask a business that has pretty low margins to all of a sudden scrape together an extra $500,000,” local restaurant owner Geoff Tracy told Washington Monthly.

Of course, proponents of Initiative 82 say this sky-is-falling narrative has been tried before, like when D.C. imposed an indoor smoking ban before Maryland and Virginia took similar steps. Still, critics of the initiative say it doesn’t reflect the lived experiences of people in the hospitality industry.

“Workers did not sponsor [Initiative 82]. Most workers do not support it. Voters should respect those who are doing the work in my industry,” said Torres.

What are the arguments for getting rid of the tipped wage?

Supporters of Initiative 82 say that the tipped wage gives employers and customers too much power over restaurant workers, and can leave tipped employees in a financially precarious situation.

“The subminimum wage of $5.35/hour that we have now takes advantage of employees,” bartender Maxwell Hawla told DCist/WAMU. “Costs of living have skyrocketed, but our wages have stayed stagnant and unstable. By raising the minimum wage and keeping tips on top, we will have more income security to cover necessities like rent and groceries.”

They say that the power imbalance between employer and employee can be most pronounced for Black, Latino, and female workers, and that wage theft is a reality many workers face in bars and restaurants. (Both Founding Farmers and Matchbox, who have contributed to the Vote No on 82 campaign, settled lawsuits in recent years that included allegations of wage theft.) Additionally, supporters of the initiative point out that the tipped wage fight isn’t just about bars and restaurants; workers in industries like nail salons can also be paid a tipped wage, and face difficult working conditions.

Proponents of the initiative also push back on the argument that it will upend the city’s bar and restaurant scene. Seven states currently prohibit the tipped wage, including California and Washington state. (Michigan will soon join the group, and voters in Portland, Maine are similarly being asked whether the tipped wage should stay or go.)

“Consider the thriving restaurant scenes of Los Angeles or Seattle, where there is one fair minimum wage for all workers, tipped or not. There is no shortage of bars and restaurants in these cities. I’ve spoken to tipped workers in each of these places, and they told me they prefer the pay structure that Initiative 82 proposes because their guests have continued to tip well on top of the wage increase,” said Hawla.

A 2018 study by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute found that bar and restaurant workers in Seattle and San Francisco, where there is no tipped wage, made more than their counterparts in D.C. (The industry-aligned Employment Policies Institute, though, contests some of those claims.)

Of course, that’s a hard sell for some, including Carl Bell, a bartender in D.C. Writing recently in the Washington Blade, he said he already makes more than minimum wage with tips, and things his pay would probably go down if Initiative 82 passes: “Many customers will see increased prices, added ‘service charges,’ and will have heard that bartenders and servers nowmake minimum wage and will decide ‘I don’t need to add a tip.'”

As for the argument that wage laws shouldn’t be changed coming out of a pandemic that was particularly hard on bars and restaurants, supporters of Initiative 82 say that the large-scale movement of people out of the industry — and the struggles of bars and restaurants to now rehire staff — is evidence that workers want a better wage system than currently exists.

If voters approve Initiative 82, how might local restaurants adapt?

That’s a central element in the debate on Initiative 82. Proponents say restaurants and customers will adapt seamlessly, while opponents say the alternatives to tipping, like service charges, are less popular and likely to alienate customers and hurt workers.

Last week, DCist/WAMU reporter Amanda Michelle Gomez explored this very question in a story that’s worth reading. She asked Dan Simons, co-owner of Farmers Restaurant Group, what he thinks will happen if Initiative 82 passes:

Simons is adamant that a service charge is likely necessary because a business could only raise menu prices by so much, but he says he doesn’t want to predict how many restaurants will go in this direction.

“I’m not sure what I’ll do,” he says.

“If I thought I could charge $45 for an entree and that people would be totally fine with it, I’d already be doing it right [now],” he continues. “When I hear someone say ‘just raise prices and take less profit,’ like, we’re not the oil industry. … It’s a blue-collar, hands-on industry with low margins.”

But Gomez heard a different take from the owner of a longstanding Cleveland Park pizza joint:

Ever since the first attempt to eliminate the tipped wage in 2018, the owner of 2 Amys, Peter Pastan, says he’s seriously questioned the current system. When he reopened after the COVID-19 shutdown of nonessential businesses, Pastan decided to stop using it. He says she’s managed to pay his staff above $16.10 an hour without instituting a service charge by increasing menu prices and, he admits, making less profit.

“This is just a math problem. If it actually happens,” he says of 82 passing. “It’s not going to be hard to figure out.”

A margherita pizza at 2 Amys went for $13.45 in December 2019; it’s now priced at $18.50. Pastan also had to raise prices because food costs are up 3% over 2019 due to inflation. Some of his patrons have questioned the prices, he says, but they were understanding once they learned workers earn a higher wage and got benefits like health insurance and paid time off. The new compensation model certainly didn’t scare away employees — he says nearly all his pre-pandemic staff is still with 2 Amys.

“I’m a lot happier,” says Pastan. “This is the way the future is going to be. I just don’t want to have to be dragged, kicking and screaming.”

What does this mean for my visits to D.C. restaurants this month? Will I start hearing about this when I’m out to dinner?

It happened in the run-up to the vote on Initiative 77, and it’s possible again now. The Vote No on 82 campaign recently tweeted out a picture of a box of buttons urging voters to reject Initiative 82. “Help educate D.C. voters while you’re on the job,” said the group, urging tipped workers to wear a button to spread the word.

If voters approve Initiative 82, will the D.C. Council just overturn it?

This is an understandable question, given that the council overturned Initiative 77 after voters approved it in 2018. (This is a right the D.C. Council has; in 2001 the council similarly overturned a ballot initiative that imposed term limits on elected officials.)

The dynamics on the council have changed since 2018, though — there’s a more progressive bent to the city’s legislature, and the November election could usher in a number of new lawmakers, some of whom have already said they would respect the voters’ will on the tipped wage. The Washington City Paper additionally reported last month that a majority of current councilmembers say they would not vote to overturn Initiative 82 should it be passed by voters.