Frances Kai-Hwa Wang reported on the NBC News website on the following:

“Nine Korean and two Latino restaurant workers have been awarded $2,672,657 in damages by the US District Court from Kum Gang San, a large and well-known Korean restaurant with multiple locations in New York …”

The article goes on to report “The court found that the restaurant and it’s owner, Ji Sung Yoo, did not pay workers minimum wage, required workers to work 10 to 12 hours 5 to 7 days a week without overtime pay and routinely withheld tips from customers who paid with credit cards. Workers also had to work without pay on their days off, including once having to pick cabbages and chili peppers on a farm. The restaurant also made workers create false time cards. Workers who refused were threatened with blacklisting, were not scheduled, or were forced to quit.”

Here’s a link to the original post.

GOP war on middle class · income inequality · tip penalty

I find it interesting that in the debate over the wages of tipped employees, the pool of money that constitutes what each customer decides to voluntarily tip on each transaction, over which restaurant owners have no control, is treated as if it were the owners’ pool of money to analyze for business costs. I find it inappropriate that voluntary contributions above the listed price are being used as justification for lowering wages and that some restaurant owners are trying to enlist the state’s help to save on labor expenses that every business has to account for (“GOP targets minimum wage,” March 24). I think that the focus should be on costs that owners are directly responsible for and that their business acumen should be used to maximize efficiency in other ways instead of taking the shortcut of having the government do it on the backs of employees.

Vlad Ryaboy
Minnetonka
StarTribune, March 27, 2015

tip penalty · tip theft

Last night, the GOP-controlled Minnesota House passed the tip penalty bill. During discussions on amendments to the bill, Deputy Minority Leader Erin Murphy talks about the sexual harassment she saw while a server including business’ response (or lack of action) to it:

But, if the business is profitable, we guess that’s OK for the GOP House  majority. Is that what folks thought they’d be getting last November? We sure hope not. Video courtesy of the Uptake.

GOP war on the Middle Class · sexual harassment · tip penalty