the passionate ailurophile

And to that I say GOOD!  Here’s the link:  Wal-Mart agrees to settle wage claims.

What was the suit about?

According to the statement, the workers had accused Wal-Mart of denying workers rest and meal breaks, refusing to pay overtime, and manipulating time cards to lower employees’ pay.

Italics and boldface mine.  Why am I emphasizing this part of it?  Because when I worked for Applebee’s years ago, they did this exact thing to their staff!

After hearing about the Mall-Wart settlement here in Massachusetts, I had to wonder if anyone filed a similar suit against Crapplebee’s.  The only one I could find was this one:  Applebee’s Class Action.  The time to join has come on gone, and it was aimed at tipped employees, as in servers and bartenders.  The problem was that Crapplebee’s made their tipped staff do an inordinate amount of side work, often over an hour a day, for which they were only paid the going tipped employee minimum wage of $2.13 an hour.  Much of this went on during times when the restaurant was not open for business, so there was no opportunity for them to earn tips during those times.  Therefore, they should have been paid standard minimum wage for any work they do when the restaurant is not open.

I wasn’t a tipped employee, I was a cook.  Although I was originally hired for the day shift (which I wanted, otherwise I never would have taken the job), they soon started making me work nights, often until closing.  The kitchen closed at midnight, but there was often at least one hour of cleaning involved after that time, and we could not leave until the manager on duty checked and decided it was clean enough.

It was okay for a while, I was being paid for the hours I actually worked.  But one night, I went to clock out at around 1AM, only to have the computer tell me that I was already clocked out.

They were doing this to everyone.  When we complained, the manager said that corporate ordered them to clock all closing people out at midnight.  So therefore, none of us were being paid for the hours afterward, spent on cleaning.

I stayed because we needed the money, even though they did a lot of other nasty crap to me.  But what finally made me quit was this one Sunday night, business was slow, and they cut most of the staff, except for a few servers, me, and some new guy who was on his second day.  They even sent the dishwasher home!

Then it got busy.  The new guy behind the line didn’t know much, so it was on me to get all of the orders out.  I had servers yelling at me because it was more than 15 minutes past my lead tickets.  I also saw dishes being piled up at the dishwashing station, with nobody there to do them.  I knew that I’d be doing these dishes, along with tons of other cleaning, with only the new guy to help.  I knew I’d be there until 3-4 AM, and that I’d not be paid for that time.

I’d had enough.  I snapped.  I walked off the line, got my coat and my bag, and walked out.  Right through the crowded dining room.  If they didn’t want to pay me for my time cleaning the kitchen and washing dishes, then I just wouldn’t stick around to do it.

The manager on duty chased after me, begging me to stay, he would help me, yadda, yadda, yadda.  The only thing I had to say to him was a good old flippin’ o’ the bird.  Yep, right in front of all those customers.  I didn’t care, I just wanted OUT.

That had to have been the WORST job I’ve ever had in my life!  I’d sooner work retail on Black Friday, than ever work for that hellhole again.  I won’t even eat at an Applebee’s ever again.

So, although I got cheated out of pay from Crapplebee’s that I will likely never see, I am happy for all of the Wally-World employees who are getting at least some justice.  It’s probably not as much as they were cheated out of, but the fact that it hit Mall-Wart in the wallet is what counts.  It’s all very simple – treat your employees with respect, pay them an honest wage for the work they do, and then they won’t sue you.

Although I’ve never worked at Mall-Wart, I know all about how they treat their employees, so I refuse to shop there on principle.  Thank goodness I have plenty of other shopping options!