Current Events > So why don't more restaurant workers sue management for wage theft?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Let them just pay that lawyer with their wages.

oh wait

Let them just pay that lawyer with their wages.

oh wait

Arent there lawyers out there that wont charge you any money until they win the case?

Arent there lawyers out there that wont charge you any money until they win the case?

And you fuckin' believe them?

So why don't more restaurant workers sue management for wage theft?

It's a fight that typically ends in the unemployment line. It's been a known issue for decades. You might feel that necessitates an urgency to tackle it now. The establishments in power disagree because they see it as a standard that has stood the test of time, justice be damned...

Translation: be wary about working in food service. You get what you apply for.

firing for retaliation is illegal and Im pretty sure that restaurant worker can go to the labor board and report them

firing for retaliation is illegal and Im pretty sure that restaurant worker can go to the labor board and report them

Because the lawyer usually takes most of it then your boss pretty much finds a way to get rid of you

In addition to being poorly paid, restaurant workers are often younger, less experienced, and less knowledgable about what they are entitled to. In some areas, language barriers also pose an obstacle.

Even when workers won their claims, more than a third of those successful cases totaling nearly a billion dollars showed no money was ever recovered.

That's a scenario Texas construction worker Oscar Torres knows all too well. In the last four years, the Texas Workforce Commission has ruled in his favor in four separate wage theft cases, but he still hasn't seen a dime.

In his most recent claim, Torres said his employer a small remodeling company didn't pay him for 10 full days of work.

Torres said every time he wins a case, the companies that owe him "just disappear" and the state can't recover any of his money.

A spokesperson for the Texas Workforce Commission confirmed Torres' story to CBS News Dallas-Ft. Worth, acknowledging he was awarded money in all four cases, but none has been paid.

To make matters worse, state wage theft cases often take months or even years to be decided. The median case among those CBS News analyzed lasted more than six months. Many dragged on for a year or more.

I work in a restaurant as part of the kitchen crew, and when I asked a friend whos part of the waitstaff why they dont just get paid an hourly wage like us folks in the kitchen, she looked at me as if I had grown two heads before telling me how they actually like getting tips even though theyre not guaranteed a good paycheck if the business is slow on a particular day since they would make a whole lot less if they were simply wagies like us in the back.

If there was a case lawyers would jump on that shit for free until they win

Why would I sue when no wage theft is happening?

What is some examples of this wage theft?

What is some examples of this wage theft?

What is some examples of this wage theft?

More than two hundred Burger King employees in San Francisco didnt get paid minimum wage or overtime, and sometimes didnt get breaks, according to a citation from the California Labor Commissioners Office. The franchisee sold or closed all the locations they owned, but still owes workers $1.9 million.

UPS workers in New York found money was being deducted from their paychecks towards a company fundraiser, but the workers hadnt given written permission to make the deduction. The affected workers received more than $1 million in a settlement between UPS and the union that represented the employees.

In August 2021, Jack in the Box workers in Sacramento, Calif. went on strike, claiming their manager manipulated their time cards and forced them to work long shifts without overtime pay. The workers estimate theyre owed $184,000 in back pay.