thethird0611 said:
Lil devils x said:
thethird0611 said:
seydaman said:
If a food place pays you less than minimum wage in the US...can't you like...report them for breaking the law? Sue them?
OT: I don't like tips, I already paid for the food and the service.
To kind of extend on what thedarksheep said...
They can pay you less than minimum wage... IF you make enough tips to cover it. Here in Texas, people who run on tips can be paid as little as 2.13 an hour, but they MUST get at least the minimum wage of 7.25 an hour. If they dont, the employer must cover the rest of it.
EDIT:
MASTACHIEFPWN said:
Vegosiux said:
If you want to tip, you're free to - but the service staff will not struggle with money any more than other people with an equivalent wage will if you don't.
In the state in which I live, the minimum cash wage for a tipped employee is $2.13 per hour, compaired to the minimum wage of a non-tipped employee, which is $7.25 per hour.
It's nearly impossible to live off of minimum wage, so how the hell could they do it with less than a third of that?
Because, like in Texas where the minimum wage for tipping employees is 2.13, if employees dont make 5.12 in tips for each hour they worked, the employer must cover the rest of it.
So, they are going to get minimum wage either way.
Yes, the employer must cover it, however, at many establishments in Texas, if the employer covers it, that employee will not be there very long. They make it "understood" that if you report below min wage, you will be replaced by someone who will not. I bartended in college at quite a few establishments in Texas, and this is VERY common. It is the rule rather than the exception.
Im actually going to have to call you out on that for some bad information.
I was a shift manager with a place that had drivers who were paid less than minimum wage because of their tips. The only people who got fired for making low tips made those low tips for a reason. So really, it wasnt about the tips of why they were fired.
Also, I knew waiters in other restaurants, other drivers, etc. (you kinda do in a college town), and none of them ever had any problems with being fired for receiving low tip. Some had complaints about the tips being split and -only- making minimum wage after the employer covered it, but not once have I heard someone get fired for that. Oh, this list of people also included some managers form those stores to, its surprising how I connected to them in that position.
But yeah, I would say its the exception than the rule that people would get fired for not making enough tips.
I will put a side note here, im not sure about the bar tending area. Though we did have an active bar scene and even had one of my drivers bar tend, and he never said anything near that, and that he got quite a good amount of tips, sometimes just for uncapping a bottle of beer.
EDIT: Also, just saw your most recent post. Talking to another college manager
Glad to meet ya.
This isn't bad info. Would be nice if it was. At the bars it wasn't much of a problem for me, the BIG problems are at the big chains part time day shift employees. They are severely overstaffed, so they only get a few tables a shift, but when you calc their hours of prep work/cleaning they don't make the cut. The way it usually works is they have a couple of main servers who get the best sections, they make good money, everyone else gets crappy sections and doesn't make enough to make min wage. They get replaced very frequently because if they cost the establishment more money they get cut quick.
Which college town? 6th street Austin here.
Also bartended @ Greenville ave, Skillman, Ellum in Dallas, Garland, & Rockwall. In college I Bartended, won 3 speed bar comps, Bar manager, Bar designer and coordinator, & Scouted bands. Good times!
I will have to disagree with you on people being fired for reporting. I saw it happen at too many places to too many people. When I started working at Pizza Inn at 14 as a waitress, they flat out told you if you report it you won't be there. They hire too many people at the chains, so they can't earn enough to live, and they don't want to pay them more. I only worked at Pizza Inn until I was 16, but the sheer number of waitstaff we went through was insane. Delivery drivers were paid more than servers though, and it seems common for establishments to be willing to pay drivers more.
I learned real quick though not to work at a franchise or chain.. YUCK! I feel sorry for them. When friends would tell me what they made I didn't want them to know what I made. LOL Once I went bar, I was bringing in $500 a night in tips doing speed bar, then moved up to fine dining where people were crazy enough to pay $250 for a sip of a port.
EDIT:
Here I was thinking the Bars weren't that bad because, although yes, I have experienced employers who did not pay bartenders/ wait staff at all, I usually made more than enough in tips that I didn't worry about it. But then I just read an article on charges being brought against a bar that I actually worked at for a couple of weeks until I had a better offer.
I worked at *hides face* Treasure Island for 2 weeks once. LMAO!:
"Yassine Enterprises is also in the process of being sued by former employees. Over 50 employees are involved a class action lawsuit over minimum wage violations."
"As background, on September 9, 2011 a former employee filed a federal lawsuit against Yassine Enterprises LLC claiming that his employer had an established practice of failing to pay him and other staff proper wages. The former employee claims that Yassine Enterprises was in violation of federal minimum wage requirements by generally paying no wages at all to tipped employees, and that it also did not follow the mandatory ?tip credit? steps to authorize payment of a reduced minimum wage from $7.25 to $2.13 per hour. He alleges that he, along with other staff, are entitled under federal law to receive back pay of $7.25 per hour for all hours worked while employed by certain bars and nightclubs owned by Yassine Enterprises, and that this base amount should be doubled under federal law for a total of $14.50 per hour for each hour worked during the approximately three year period preceding the date the suit was filed."
http://digitaltexan.net/2012/austin-local-news/feds-austin-police-raid-6th-street-downtown-bars-owned-mike-yassine/article30021/#.UgSND_Uo7cs
Although I know the guys I worked with always made less than females. I often don't think about how bad they have it. Since I always made more than enough, I often didn't look at how bad others had it. I guess I was wrong, Bars can be just as bad as the chains for some people.