For many restaurant goers, a tip is nothing more than a minor annoyance, an additional cost to a bill that is already high enough.

But for the waiters who take orders and bring meals to the table, tips are their main source of income.

On Friday, July 24th, the New York State Department of Labor announced an increase in the minimum wage, from $7.15 to $7.25, in order to comply with federal legislation. However, this increase doesn't apply to workers who earn tips, whose hourly wage has been $2.13 since 1991.

Nevertheless, employers should pay the difference if the worker's salary plus tips does not add up to the minimum wage. Employers are supposed to pay the highest minimum wage available, whether it is state or federal. In the state of New York, the highest minimum wage is $4.60 [for tip workers].

"The problem that naturally comes with earning tips is that workers cannot be sure how much they will earn at the end of the day," said Rajesh Nayak, a lawyer for the National Employment Law Project (NELP).

For that reason, NELP advocates for an increase in the minimum wage for workers earning tips by at least 60 percent of the regular minimum wage.

Besides tips, these workers – especially waiters and waitresses, hotel workers, and people who work in garages – would, in total, receive a little more than the minimum wage.

"There will always be a little inconsistency, but they should have the security of knowing that they are earning at least two or three dollars more than the minimum wage," said Nayak.

Nicole Cummins, who has worked as a waitress for 15 years and now works at a Pizzeria Uno in Bayside, agreed.

"Especially during breakfast time, people don't leave appropriate tips," said Cummins, "They assume that we earn the minimum wage."

She also added that her employers never pay the difference when her wages add up to less than the minimum wage. "They don't make up for what's missing," she added, "And this happens everywhere."

Tenzin Namgyal, manager of Tibet Kitchen at 75th Street and Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights, recognizes that tips are often not enough for his waiters.

"With the state of the current economy, people leave less tips," said Namgyal. But at the same time, the economy is significantly affecting business.

"Now, an increase in the minimum wage for workers earning tips would hurt businesses which are also suffering," he explained. "But when the economy improves, it would be okay to raise minimum wage for these workers." He added that the salaries and tips of waiters always exceed $7.25.

But in the long term, Nayak, the lawyer, would like to see workers receiving the full minimum wage, an initiative that the states of Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington have already adopted.

"To pay them a minimum wage they could rely on, not including tips, would attract more people to these types of jobs, especially if the wage was high enough to support a family," said Nayak, based on observations of the seven states that have already implemented the practice.

But Andrés Torres, a professor at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College and director of the CUNY Latino Faculty Initiative for the department of Latino Studies, has a slightly different view about the role these types of jobs play in the labor market.

The Latino community, which comprises 21 percent of all workers earning tips and 15 percent of waiters and waitresses, would clearly be affected by an increase in the minimum wage for such workers.

"The restaurant and service industries are entry points into the labor market," said Torres. "A small change in their salaries and the secondary effect of tips would be positive, but they are part of a long-term struggle for their financial security and social survival," Torres added.