Agree, it seems that only the attornies make anything in a class action suit. Lost count as to how many I was supposed to be a part of over the years. Most of them would have got me a couple of bucks as part of a multi million dollar lawsuit with the attornies making up to 40% of the settlement!
“Servers who arrived for a shift were prohibited from clocking in and being paid until the first customer arrived at a restaurant, were forced to clock out before their work was finished…”
What do you suppose would have happened to them if those servers did not do amything until they were allowed to clock in or left for the day when they were forced to clock out?????
Absolutely agree! These plaintiff attorneys can do more harm than good. If someone is unhappy with their job, quit. Go find another one. Currently plaintiff attorneys are lining up candidates for a class action suit against a cancer drug which has saved many lives because it makes some people “itch”! The pharmaceutical company will probably take it off the market. Great… then people can die. A relative took that drug and it saved his life – he didn’t care if he had itchy skin (that went away).
I’ll play devil’s advocate here. I spent a few years in the service industry to pay for my education. Full disclosure, though I had no involvement in the proceedings I also received a class action settlement check from a suit that had been filed against a former employer.
Servers typically get paid $2.13 per hour in wages. That’s $85–before taxes–for a full 40 hour work week. Think about that figure for a minute.
Servers are often required to ‘open’ the restaurant–setting up the line, cleaning menus, various station prep etc. This all must happen before the restaurant actually opens to the public. I remember coming in at 10am to open a restaurant that officially opened for lunch at 11am.
Servers are also required to close their individual section and the restaurant itself. Closing involves a more extensive amount of work–sweeping the section, cleaning the tables, re-stocking the tables, rolling silverware (often a hundred or more rolls which generally took a full hour), thoroughly breaking down and cleaning the line, cleaning the ice machine, cleaning the salad station, dismantling and cleaning the soda machine, cleaning the coffee station, etc. At the place I worked the managers would pull out a high-powered flashlight and make servers re-clean their section if any crumbs were present. If the restaurant closed at 11, servers would often be present until 1am cleaning and closing. Closing out the tickets for the day and settling with the manager also took time. All of this was compensated at $2.13 per hour.
I strongly disagree with the minimum wage exception for the service industry. Tips are great, but they aren’t guaranteed, and servers do not have control of their customers. I can recall many occasions where I provided excellent service, was complimented on providing excellent service by the table, and nonetheless was stiffed with a tip like $3 on a $147 tab. Many restaurants also require their servers to ‘tip out’ to the bar, to food runners, to bus boys, and to the host stand.
I can recall days of working double shifts 10am to 3am and walking with $50 in tips because the restaurant was slow. That’s 15 hours of work for $91.95 in total wages + tips = $5.46 per hour, and that’s before tipping out and expenses.
Also keep in mind that restaurants often make employees pay for their own uniforms. I remember buying a specific type of shirt, which was required to be professionally laundered w/ heavy starch at my own expense, I remember buying company-branded pins, and the company would also deduct a few dollars from every shift for an apron service (double fees were applied for double shifts). This apron laundry service charge was ultimately what resulted in the class action settlement.
The bottom line is that the service industry is hard work, and most of the time employees are scrounging for small tips. Not every restauarant runs high average tickets with a generous customer base. The job entails a significant amount of work which isn’t subject to tips.
The minimum wage exemption for tipped workers should be eliminated, and a gratuity should be exactly that– an optional payment for exception service. We currently have a screwed up system restaurants shift their cost of labor onto their own customers.
Oh, those poor, caring {cough} attorneys. They’ve lost the dollar signs in their eyes by this ruling.
Agree, it seems that only the attornies make anything in a class action suit. Lost count as to how many I was supposed to be a part of over the years. Most of them would have got me a couple of bucks as part of a multi million dollar lawsuit with the attornies making up to 40% of the settlement!
“Servers who arrived for a shift were prohibited from clocking in and being paid until the first customer arrived at a restaurant, were forced to clock out before their work was finished…”
What do you suppose would have happened to them if those servers did not do amything until they were allowed to clock in or left for the day when they were forced to clock out?????
Absolutely agree! These plaintiff attorneys can do more harm than good. If someone is unhappy with their job, quit. Go find another one. Currently plaintiff attorneys are lining up candidates for a class action suit against a cancer drug which has saved many lives because it makes some people “itch”! The pharmaceutical company will probably take it off the market. Great… then people can die. A relative took that drug and it saved his life – he didn’t care if he had itchy skin (that went away).
I’ll play devil’s advocate here. I spent a few years in the service industry to pay for my education. Full disclosure, though I had no involvement in the proceedings I also received a class action settlement check from a suit that had been filed against a former employer.
Servers typically get paid $2.13 per hour in wages. That’s $85–before taxes–for a full 40 hour work week. Think about that figure for a minute.
Servers are often required to ‘open’ the restaurant–setting up the line, cleaning menus, various station prep etc. This all must happen before the restaurant actually opens to the public. I remember coming in at 10am to open a restaurant that officially opened for lunch at 11am.
Servers are also required to close their individual section and the restaurant itself. Closing involves a more extensive amount of work–sweeping the section, cleaning the tables, re-stocking the tables, rolling silverware (often a hundred or more rolls which generally took a full hour), thoroughly breaking down and cleaning the line, cleaning the ice machine, cleaning the salad station, dismantling and cleaning the soda machine, cleaning the coffee station, etc. At the place I worked the managers would pull out a high-powered flashlight and make servers re-clean their section if any crumbs were present. If the restaurant closed at 11, servers would often be present until 1am cleaning and closing. Closing out the tickets for the day and settling with the manager also took time. All of this was compensated at $2.13 per hour.
I strongly disagree with the minimum wage exception for the service industry. Tips are great, but they aren’t guaranteed, and servers do not have control of their customers. I can recall many occasions where I provided excellent service, was complimented on providing excellent service by the table, and nonetheless was stiffed with a tip like $3 on a $147 tab. Many restaurants also require their servers to ‘tip out’ to the bar, to food runners, to bus boys, and to the host stand.
I can recall days of working double shifts 10am to 3am and walking with $50 in tips because the restaurant was slow. That’s 15 hours of work for $91.95 in total wages + tips = $5.46 per hour, and that’s before tipping out and expenses.
Also keep in mind that restaurants often make employees pay for their own uniforms. I remember buying a specific type of shirt, which was required to be professionally laundered w/ heavy starch at my own expense, I remember buying company-branded pins, and the company would also deduct a few dollars from every shift for an apron service (double fees were applied for double shifts). This apron laundry service charge was ultimately what resulted in the class action settlement.
The bottom line is that the service industry is hard work, and most of the time employees are scrounging for small tips. Not every restauarant runs high average tickets with a generous customer base. The job entails a significant amount of work which isn’t subject to tips.
The minimum wage exemption for tipped workers should be eliminated, and a gratuity should be exactly that– an optional payment for exception service. We currently have a screwed up system restaurants shift their cost of labor onto their own customers.