16 Things The Restaurant Industry Doesn't Want You To Know

The real minimum wage is how low?!

1. The real minimum wage in the US is $2.13 an hour.

The regular hourly minimum wage is a paltry $7.25 an hour. If you earn tips, your only hourly guarantee is $2.13.

2. It's been $2.13 since 1991. That's pretty much before the internet was a thing.

This computer's just hanging out, not connected to the internet.

3. In 1991, this is what the Olsen sisters looked like.

Via stylelist.com

4. And this guy, his pants, and timeless dance moves ruled the airwaves.

5. The tipped minimum wage was on track to increase in 1996, but Herman Cain, then head of the corporate restaurant lobby - the National Restaurant Association - swooped in to block it.

Via ROC United

At the behest of the National Restaurant Association, he brokered a deal with Congress, allowing the regular minimum wage to increase so long as the tipped minimum wage stayed put at $2.13 an hour… forever.

6. More than 70% of servers are women.

rocunited.org / Via Report: Tipped Over the Edge - Gender Inequity in the Restaurant Industry

In the restaurant industry, 5 million workers are women. Two million of them have children, one million have kids under the age of 18.

7. The restaurant industry is the SINGLE LARGEST source of sexual harassment charges filed by women with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), accounting for 37 percent of all claims.

rocunited.org / Via Report: Tipped Over the Edge - Gender Inequity in the Restaurant Industry

That's more than 5x the rate for the general female workforce.

8. In addition to being the largest low-wage industry in the country, it's also the LARGEST employer of people of color.

rocunited.org / Via Report: Realizing the Dream - How the Minimum Wage Impacts Racial Equity in the Restaurant Industry and In America

9. The restaurant industry provides 6 of the 10 worst paying jobs in the country.

usnews.com / Via Department of Labor

And the two absolute lowest paying jobs. Yum!

10. Servers use food stamps at DOUBLE the rate of the rest of the US workforce.

rocunited.org / Via Report: Tipped Over the Edge - Gender Inequity in the Restaurant Industry

They're also 3x as likely to fall below the poverty line.

11. And most servers are employed by corporate chains like Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and Applebee's.

rocunited.org

Although some servers make great money, most don't. A server's median pay is just $8.00 an hour (including tips).

12. Servers typically get $0 paychecks.

...which means they're living off tips.

13. But aren't employers required by law to pay their tipped workers at least minimum wage when tips fall short?

rocunited.org / Via Economic Policy Institute

Yes, but most don't. In fact, enforcement is so weak and disorganized that an average employer has just a 0.001 percent chance of being investigated in a given year. And most restaurant workers don't make enough to money to afford taking their employers to court.

14. Tips aren't something 'extra,' they're the majority of a server's wage.

rocunited.org

Living off tips means you're quite literally living shift-to-shift. Your wages can fluctuate based on a customer's "belief" in tipping, your physical appearance or that day's snow storm.

15. The corporate restaurant industry pretty much figured out how to avoid paying wages altogether.

The biggest chains (like Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Applebee's) actually operate at an expense to the consumer (a la WalMart) because their employees depend on public subsidies to make ends meet.

16. Naturally, servers are FED UP.

rocunited.org / Via livingofftips.com

They're joining the LIVING OFF TIPS campaign to demand Congress take action and raise the tipped minimum wage. It's time for 1 Fair Wage!