The department can make a determination as to whether an employee was not paid enough. But it has no legal authority to force a business to follow its decision; rather, an employee must sue for back pay. Joyce cited that fact while concluding that the department wasn’t a proper defendant for the lawsuit.

Jim Kottmeyer helped write the minimum-wage ballot measure for the group Give Missourians a Raise Inc. He said there are about 62,500 tipped employees in Missouri, though it is unclear how many have not been paid $3.25 an hour since Jan. 1

“We certainly believed when reading the law that it was clear, and we’re pleased that the courts validated that interpretation,” Kottmeyer said Tuesday. “Our hope is that restaurant owners and managers move forward and actually pay the back wages they owe.”

Wiggins said the minimum-wage increase will cost the Granny Shaffer’s location on North Range Line Road about $30,000 in additional wages and costs per year, but he isn’t devastated by the ruling.

“I’m going to survive. I’m optimistic,” he said. “I love Joplin, and I love my business. I’m just trying to serve the customer, make a living and make great eggs.”

Back pay

If an employee worked 40 hours a week and received $2.13 an hour until Gov. Matt Blunt ordered the state labor department to adopt the $3.25-an-hour standard in mid-March, that employee would be due about $475 in back pay, according to wage-hike proponents.