Late last year, the Department of Labor proposed a rule that would have authorized restaurants to share tips between servers and cooks. That would allow employers to keep some tip money for themselves, as long as each worker made at least the full federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

Workers' rights groups argued the rule change would lower the pay of those who work at restaurants, hotels and bars. Opponents of the rule held splashy public protests. The Labor Department received more than 218,000 mostly negative comments on the proposal.

It appeared to have worked. The spending bill, which President Donald Trump signed into law on Friday, includes a section that makes it clear that employers may not pocket any portion of tips that diners leave for workers.

"We beat them," said Saru Jayaraman, president of the nonprofit Resftaurant Opportunities Center. "I think they realized how outrageous what they were proposing sounded to the public, and basically they backed down."