Current Events > I feel like my employer took advantage of me last week. What do?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I work as a prep cook at a restaurant for $16/hour. Last week a server called out, so I came in on my day off to wait tables. I worked for 6:51 as a server. As a prep cook on the week I worked 37:37, for a weekly total of 44:28. Got my paycheck today to find it broken down thus: 33:09 at $16/hour, 6:51 at $5.25/hour, and 4:28 at $7.88/hour (overtime). So basically I was paid as a server for every minute I worked in that capacity, then they took 4 hours and 28 minutes while I was working as a prep cook and paid me below minimum wage while calling it overtime. I don't know how overtime is handled when you work two wages, but I was thinking the fair compromise would have been to split it and take 2:14 out of each, paying me $24/hour for 2:14 and $7.88/hour for the other 2:14. Which would have resulted in a pay of roughly $661.50 for the week, while my actual pay was $601.56. I don't particularly care about the $60 in a vacuum, and it's not like I'll starve for lack of it. So maybe I'm making a mountain of a molehill. But that seems like a pretty shitty way to reward someone for coming in on their off-day to bail you out, doesn't it? What would you do, CE?
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So they tried to work things out to pay you as little as possible for the overtime hours that your worked. Update your resume, start applying to other places, and never answer your phone on your day off when work calls you ever again.
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Do you have a paper trail proving you worked those hours as a cook vs. hours worked as a waiter? They can't just take four hours out of cook hours worked and move it to waiter hours. Call HR or management or who the fuck ever and show them the "error"

synth_real posted...

never answer your phone on your day off when work calls you ever again.

This was your first mistake though
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synth_real posted...

So they tried to work things out to pay you as little as possible for the overtime hours that your worked. Update your resume, start applying to other places, and never answer your phone on your day off when work calls you ever again.

Tried a little too hard. Paying me as a waiter for my time as a cook has to violate minimum wage laws, no? But I'm more annoyed by the fact that I feel I went above and beyond to do them a service, and they see it as an opportunity to fuck me over. I guess I want to believe it's an honest mistake because it's an unusual circumstance, but I don't know if I can make myself believe that.
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Anony1125 posted...

they took 4 hours and 28 minutes while I was working as a prep cook and paid me below minimum wage while calling it overtime.

the rest of the story seems irrelevant compared to this. How is overtime less than your regular salary? It seems like they paid you the server overtime rate (maybe?) when it should have been the cook overtime rate
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What did you make in tips as a server?
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rikasa posted...

Anony1125 posted...

they took 4 hours and 28 minutes while I was working as a prep cook and paid me below minimum wage while calling it overtime.

the rest of the story seems irrelevant compared to this. How is overtime less than your regular salary? It seems like they paid you the server overtime rate (maybe?) when it should have been the cook overtime rate

Well, the rest of the story is just explanation. This is the crux of the matter, yes. They paid me my server wage for the time when I was serving, then they took the additional 4:28 over 40 hours and gave me the overtime server wage when it was exclusively kitchen work. I guess I'm just looking for confirmation that this is in fact exploitative before I take the step of bringing it to the attention of management.

Serious Cat posted...

What did you make in tips as a server?

Like $60. I'm awful at making tips. I think part of it is because I'm introverted and not good at making small talk. And I can't help but wonder if my gender plays a part.
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Ask around among coworkers, see if they have similar experiences.
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ask about it

It's beyond "exploitative" they're paying you the wrong rate. I wouldn't present it to them like it's one opinion vs. another because it's not. I would approach them about it as if they made a mistake and it's not a big deal so long as they fix it.

The only part I can see having any debate is whether the overtime hours should be the cook hours or server hours. But they will probably want to give you the server hours to save money. I don't know what the rules are for that part.
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Yeah, they should at least have paid you your cook pay for the 4:28 at straight time then split the server time for the balance. You weren't sharing tips for the 4:28 so should have been paid cook pay.
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They stole from you--no gray area.
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Yeah, they either don't know how to calculate OT or went the cheapass route.

Your pay should have been $14.38 for the OT hours. Its calculated by averaging the rates of pay with the amount of time you've worked at each rate.

https://www.patriotsoftware.com/payroll/training/blog/weighted-overtime-multiple-pay-rates/

Thats how the law dictates

Edit: it should be $14.38*1.5 = $21.57 , my b
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I'm pretty sure that's time fraud...if you have clock out slips saying you had about 37.5 hrs as a cook and just under 7 as a server it should be 37.5 at your cook wage, ~2.5 at server wage, and the rest of the server time and a half. Assuming you worked the cook shifts first that's how it should work. If you worked like 32 hours as a cook, then the server shift, and then like another 5 as a cook then IDK what to tell you, but if it was all cook shifts then the server shift they fucked you.
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Were there different managers asking you to come in vs. the ones doing the payroll? Perhaps it could be an honest mistake in this case.

Otherwise its just a shitty move, any halfway decent employer would seek to reward you for saving their ass, not pull one over on you.
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