4 ms·

“...and still makes minimum wage”.

joezydeco 8y ago
...with tips. The article mentions this comes to about $14/hour for Loggan. Almost every restaurant server in America makes below the minimum wage, this is allowed by law since their tips almost always take them back above the minimum. https://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm https://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm
- denimnerd 8y ago
  better way of saying it is that they make at least minimum wage or tips plus small amount
- rileymat2 8y ago
  > Almost every restaurant server in America makes below the minimum wage, this is allowed by law since their tips almost always take them back above the minimum. https://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/faq/esa/flsa/002.htm https://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/faq/esa/flsa/002.htm If an employee's tips combined with the employer's direct wages of at least $2.13 an hour do not equal the Federal minimum hourly wage, the employer must make up the difference. So, every server by law does not make below minimum wage. (If this is always enforced, not sure)
  - jandrese 8y ago
    And it is a good thing restaurant owners are a highly ethical bunch that wouldn't try to stiff their employees... This would be just about the easiest form of wage theft possible, and wage theft is already a huge problem. If I were a waiter I would not put much faith in that law.
  - Bjartr 8y ago
    The enforcement isn't the problem. When I've brought this up in the past I've been informed that the common result of a server not making enough in tips to cover minimum wage is that they are fired rather than the employer choosing to continue to employ them and cover the difference.
  - imgabe 8y ago
    There are also 7 states where there is no separate tipped minimum wage. Servers make the full minimum wage + tips.
  - spacehome 8y ago
    You will hear cases of the tips+$2.13 not making the minimum wage, but it's very rare. Americans generally tip quite well.
    - pattisapu 8y ago
      This happens more frequently than most realize because of illegal tip sharing arrangements imposed by employers, who take a portion of the tips earned by the employees. Some tip pools among regularly tipped employees are okay; what is unlawful is the house or managers taking tips from tipped employees, either for themselves or to pay kitchen staff, etc. A rider buried in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 makes this practice illegal. Department of Labor regulations had already prohibited this, but now we have a statute. Further regulations are to be implemented that may complicate things. Let's see.
  - gcb0 8y ago
    guess how many days of employment a server will have after the restaurant have to fill in because he could not make the cut on tips. it will be one or two days before they are sacked, either because the place have more servers than it need for the traffic or that one server is upselling less than the others. in anyway, your argument on the letter of the law is pointless (at least on the anecdotes I know about, would love to se actual nation wide data on this), becuase it changes nothing. either you live on tips, or you are unemployed.
- paulcole 8y ago
  This hasn’t been true in years, AFAIK. If paid wage plus tips is below federal minimum wage, the employer is required to make up the difference.
- draw_down 8y ago
  I just thought it was an interesting omission from the headline.

...with tips. The article mentions this comes to about $14/hour for Loggan. Almost every restaurant server in America makes below the minimum wage, this is allowed by law since their tips almost always take them back above the minimum. https://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm https://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm

denimnerd 8y ago
better way of saying it is that they make at least minimum wage or tips plus small amount
rileymat2 8y ago
> Almost every restaurant server in America makes below the minimum wage, this is allowed by law since their tips almost always take them back above the minimum. https://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/faq/esa/flsa/002.htm https://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/faq/esa/flsa/002.htm If an employee's tips combined with the employer's direct wages of at least $2.13 an hour do not equal the Federal minimum hourly wage, the employer must make up the difference. So, every server by law does not make below minimum wage. (If this is always enforced, not sure)
- jandrese 8y ago
  And it is a good thing restaurant owners are a highly ethical bunch that wouldn't try to stiff their employees... This would be just about the easiest form of wage theft possible, and wage theft is already a huge problem. If I were a waiter I would not put much faith in that law.
- Bjartr 8y ago
  The enforcement isn't the problem. When I've brought this up in the past I've been informed that the common result of a server not making enough in tips to cover minimum wage is that they are fired rather than the employer choosing to continue to employ them and cover the difference.
- imgabe 8y ago
  There are also 7 states where there is no separate tipped minimum wage. Servers make the full minimum wage + tips.
- spacehome 8y ago
  You will hear cases of the tips+$2.13 not making the minimum wage, but it's very rare. Americans generally tip quite well.
  - pattisapu 8y ago
    This happens more frequently than most realize because of illegal tip sharing arrangements imposed by employers, who take a portion of the tips earned by the employees. Some tip pools among regularly tipped employees are okay; what is unlawful is the house or managers taking tips from tipped employees, either for themselves or to pay kitchen staff, etc. A rider buried in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 makes this practice illegal. Department of Labor regulations had already prohibited this, but now we have a statute. Further regulations are to be implemented that may complicate things. Let's see.
- gcb0 8y ago
  guess how many days of employment a server will have after the restaurant have to fill in because he could not make the cut on tips. it will be one or two days before they are sacked, either because the place have more servers than it need for the traffic or that one server is upselling less than the others. in anyway, your argument on the letter of the law is pointless (at least on the anecdotes I know about, would love to se actual nation wide data on this), becuase it changes nothing. either you live on tips, or you are unemployed.
paulcole 8y ago
This hasn’t been true in years, AFAIK. If paid wage plus tips is below federal minimum wage, the employer is required to make up the difference.
draw_down 8y ago
I just thought it was an interesting omission from the headline.