Yes! Weekly: Profiles in profit and loss: The Press Wine Cafe

Yes! Weekly's Jordan Green continues his "Profiles in Profit and Loss" series this week with a profile of the Press Wine Cafe's co-owner, Mike Hamuka. Although Hamuka is a friend of mine (and I'm a pretty loyal customer of The Press), we disagree on issues related to the minimum wage hike, as you will see when you read the article.

I'm glad the profile was written, however, because it gives me an opportunity to clarify a couple of apparently misunderstood pieces in the minimum wage ordinance.

First, Hamuka suggests that, if the minimum wage ordinance is passed, tipped employees would get paid the full $9.36/hour on top of their tips. This is not the case. The minimum wage ordinance, as written, simply replaces $9.36 as the minimum wage for Greensboro, which means that any current law pinned to the minimum wage would stay the same, just with a different minimum. I think the current law states that tipped employees must be paid a base of $3.15/hour and, if tips do not equal the state's minimum wage of $6.15, then employers must make up the difference. If the minimum wage ordinance here passes, then tipped employees will still have the same base pay that the state requires, but if tips do not make up the difference between $3.15 and $9.36, then employers will have to make up that difference, just like they already do with the lower $6.15 minimum. If my experience on Thursday nights at the Press are any indication of their business, I don't think this will be a problem for Hamuka or the other owners.

Second, Hamuka suggests at the end of the article that the wage increase be slowly phased in. With nine employees, though, Hamuka's business would qualify as a small business in the minimum wage ordinance, which means that the wage hike would, indeed, be phased in for him. Section 3.2 of the ordinance reads:

The minimum wage will be phased in for small business to allow them more time to adjust. A small business is defined as a business or nonprofit organization that has 10 or fewer workers during a normal work- week at all business locations. Small business will pay a minimum wage of $7.15 per hour for one year and then will increase their minimum to equal the normal minimum wage rate.

Thanks to Green for writing these profiles and thanks to Hamuka for being willing to talk about it on the record.