Open the kitchen

This editorial might have delivered a verdict on a proposal from President Trump’s Department of Labor to shift how businesses handle some workers’ tips — but reliable conclusions can’t be rendered when the government keeps its own research on the likely impact out of the public eye.

Trump wants to reverse an Obama-era rule that deemed tips for workers who are paid the full minimum wage to be their own property, sharable only with other workers who receive tips.

Under the proposal — get comments in by Feb. 5, folks — restaurant owners would gain flexibility to redistribute tips to any worker in the house, including cooks and dishwashers in the back.

Gee, do you think that might leave some servers shortchanged? Maybe even give bosses the power to pocket some or all of the tips and put them in the bank?

Funny enough, analysts at the Department of Labor, Bloomberg News reports, had investigated these very questions, and according to sources who’ve seen the results, found that workers could lose potentially billions of dollars in the shift.

Department sources say that after a second run at the numbers produced only somewhat less dismal results, Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta sought to omit the analysis entirely.

And so: The official discussion extols benefits to workers even in the event management skims tips, because, who knows, they might improve the restaurant, lower prices or add worker benefits.

The public is supposed to swallow this. We’ve lost our appetite.