Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with minimumwage

Working in Retail

phrontist — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:38:52 -0800

Following a second interview tomorrow morning I will more likely than not be working at a large chain bookstore for a few months (including, obviously, the holiday season). I've never worked in retail, or anything that required me to deal with the public for that matter. I'm not expecting it to be very difficult, but is there anything I should know?

Where's my hard-earned quarter?

WidgetAlley — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 15:59:56 -0800

You-are-not-my-lawyer-filter: Minimum wage went up, and my paycheck didn't. Why not? Minimum wage went up, and, two pay periods later, my check has yet to reflect this (it's still $7.00). What's up?

Some more info: I am a summer job worker in an independently owned plant nursery and greenhouse, with about 20 employees total. I am enrolled in college in fall and spring but not during my employment; my state does not have a minimum wage requirement so I am referring to the federal minimum wage when I say "minimum wage." I am well over the age of majority (21), not a student-learner, or a full-time student, nor any other clause that I can find that would make me exempt under the US Department of Labor standards. Is it just because I was originally hired on at $7.00? Is there a grace period for implementation? Is it because I'm going back to school in a week? Or am I getting dicked around?

Thanking you in advance for your help!

My employer won't pay us minimum wage, what do I do?

tumbleweedjack — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 10:22:53 -0800

My employer (a restaurant) does not pay me or any of the other employees minimum wage. Help! We are in San Francisco, and as far as I know California does not allow a service wage for tipped workers. Management, however, insists that since we make so much money in tips and never walk home with less than 20 an hour, they don't have to pay us minimum wage. So, instead of making San Francisco's minimum wage of 9-something, we get 6-something.
Three dollars an hour of wages really adds up in the long term and I and the rest of my coworkers are really frustrated because nobody wants to cause a fuss and get fired, but we'd also all really like to get paid what we're guaranteed by law.

Additional Info: the employees of this establishment's location in another city sued for this very reason, and won.

Ideally I'd like to just call and tip off some hotline, because none of us has the money lying around to hire a lawyer. What do I do?