shift pay
i work at a restaurant that is only paying me $90 a day. I work a minimum of 12 hours, lately closer to 16. When i get my paycheck it states i only work 40 hours and make $12 something an hour. Is this legal? What are my rights? The chef also insists we work for free on our 1 or 2 days off. If we don’t he said "he will hate us" Please help.
Comments
no it’s not legal! you should contact the restaurant opportunities center of chicago they help out with these situations my friend was getting her tips stolen and they were able to guide her through the process. you should get your money back!
somebody please tell me the name of this place so I can go work there just to sue them lolllllllll…..
i think this is in some sense legal, because i know a huge restaurant company employs shift pay. however, i think these places are pushing the legality of it a little too far. look in your employment handbook, or call corporate (if possible) about it to ask about shift pay. or wait a few years and ill help, as ill be an employment attorney for this exact reason! (not kidding)
You didn’t state the nature of your job, whether you’re a server or back-of the-house, which makes me wonder if you’re a tipped employee or not. Sure, what they’re doing is completely illegal, but personally speaking, before I bitch about my rights, I always try to determine if the employer’s “cheats” actually work to benefit ME in some way. There’s a lot of shifty maneuvers going on in the restaurant industry, and maybe I’m jaded, but I’ve come to think of it as a trade-off for the ability to take home cold, hard cash on a daily basis that I’m rarely taxed on. 
Assuming you’re a tipped employee, at 12 hrs/day, you’re making $7.50/hr, and at 16 hrs/day, you’re making 5.63, BOTH of which are more per hour than the minimum 4.80 the employer is REQUIRED by law to pay you per hour. I also assume that you make enough in tips to more than compensate for that, or else you’d have jumped ship long ago. AND if the tips are that good, unless you’re running yourself ragged, I imagine you’d probably be willing to work as many hours as you could, which wouldn’t be nearly as many if they did things by the book. Working for “free” on your days off must also be reasonably profitable if the entire staff hasn’t staged a hostile revolt by now. Of course, if you’re NOT a tipped employee, none of this matters and you are indeed getting totally screwed.
Your options are relatively straightforward, but you have to decide what works out better for you in the end. If you’re willing to work like crazy to make great money, then stay put and suck it up until it’s no longer to your advantage. If you decide to go to the labor board, do so only AFTER you find another gig, as your temperamental chef won’t be fun to deal with once you initiate legal action.
I wish you the best of luck in either case. 
Without question this is completley illegal in every state in the nation. Time to A) look for another job, B) report your employer to the labor board, so they can get you the pay you’re entitled to.