 On paper, there's protections built in for tipped employees. If their tips, plus their base wage, don't add up to at least the full minimum wage, their employer is supposed to make up the difference. But in reality, this system doesn't work well. And it's easy to understand why. If a waitress wants to make sure that she's getting at least the minimum wage for a given week, she has to keep track of all of her hours, all of the tips she receives, both in cash and on credit cards. Add in her base wage and then calculate whether it was at least the full minimum wage. If not, that waitress has to go to her employer. The same person that sets her schedule determines what shifts she gets and really determines whether she keeps her job and asks that person for more money. That's a really difficult position to put someone in. And unfortunately, we know that there's a lot of abuse of this system. The Department of Labor has investigated over 9,000 restaurants between 2010 and 2012 and they found a violation rate of 84% of the restaurants that they investigated. Clearly, this system is not protecting workers.