A few weeks back, the McDonald’s McResource employee hotline made headlines when a company rep “helped” a 10-year McDonald’s employee improve her lot in life by directing her to numerous welfare programs to supplement her income. What other gems of advice do the McResource people have for employees? [More]
minimum wage
McDonald’s McResource Help Line Tells Worker How To Get Welfare Benefits
By 10.23.13
A recent study showed that 52% of non-management fast food workers in the U.S. are receiving some sort of federal benefits to supplement their wages, and that McDonald’s employees alone account for an estimated $1.2 billion (with a “b”) in annual payouts. And when employees call the McDonald’s hotline for workers looking to improve their financial position, operators direct them to various welfare programs. [More]
Study: Low-Paid Fast-Food Employees Cost Taxpayers $3.8 Billion A Year
By 10.16.13
As McDonald’s own suggested employee budgets indicate, it’s not easy to support yourself or a family on just a job behind the counter of a fast-food restaurant. And a new study claims that the 52% of non-management fast-food workers who take home some sort of federal subsidy are costing taxpayers around $4 billion a year. [More]
Judge Says Strippers Are Employees, Merit Minimum Wage
By 9.11.13
Are dancers at a strip club independent contractors or employees? That’s the question involved in a lawsuit against a popular Manhattan club and in at least one other pending lawsuit against a club in Colorado. [More]
McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s Employees In 50 Cities Planning To Walk Off Job Today
By 8.29.13
If you’re in the mood for a Whopper, Baconator, or Big Mac today, you might be in for a wait, as some employees at two of the nation’s largest fast food chains have pledged to stage a walk-out today in protest against the low wages paid to workers in the fast food industry. [More]
D.C. Lawmakers Pass Minimum Wage Mandate Despite Walmart’s Threats To Pull Stores
By 7.11.13
Walmart’s efforts Tuesday to deter Washington D.C’s city council from passing a bill that would require certain large retailers to pay their employees at least $12.50 — a significant bump above the city’s minimum wage of $8.25 — didn’t work. Despite the big box company telling lawmakers it’d scrap plans for three stores in the area and take a close look at the three already underway, council members passed the bill by a vote of 8 to 5 yesterday. [More]
The Argument For Abolishing Restaurant Tips
By 7.10.13
As any Consumerist reader knows, tipping is a hot-button topic, with some people arguing that they will only leave a tip when they receive excellent service, while others point out that most tipped employees — especially in restaurants — make well below minimum wage and rely on tips for survival. Then there are those who attempt to make the case that tipping should just be done away with, as it has been in most of the world. [More]
Walmart Tells D.C. Lawmakers It’ll Pull 3 Stores If City Passes Minimum Wage Bill
By 7.10.13
Walmart officials warned Washington, D.C. lawmakers yesterday that if the city council passes a new super-minimum-wage proposal, it’ll pull at least three stores planned for the area. Executives and lobbyists delivered the news in person to council members yesterday, less than 24 hours before a vote was scheduled on the legislation. [More]
New York Attorney General Investigating Walmart, Home Depot, Others Over Prepaid Payroll Cards
By 7.3.13
Though it’s been a point of concern with employee-rights advocates for years, the use of prepaid debit cards as a substitute for traditional payroll checks is finally getting attention from the powers that be, with the New York state attorney general’s office investigating the practice at some of the nation’s largest employers. [More]
Is It Legal For Employers To Make Employees Pay For Uniforms?
By 4.12.13 — Updated: 5.23.17
Millions of Americans have jobs that require them to sport a uniform of some sort. This is especially true in retail, food service, hospitality, and other public-facing industries where uniforms further the brand and aid customers in identifying employees. But should — and can — employers require that workers fork over their own money to cover the costs of these outfits? [More]
After A Dine-And-Dash, Is It Legal For A Restaurant To Take Money From A Waiter’s Tips?
By 4.2.13 — Updated: 5.23.17
It’s a story we’ve heard any number of times, both professionally and from friends in the restaurant world. A customer splits without paying the bill, or doesn’t leave enough to cover the full amount; to make up for the loss, the manager takes it out of the waiter’s pay. Can this be legal? [More]
Costco CEO Comes Out In Support Of Minimum Wage Increase
By 3.6.13
With the President using the State of the Union address to call for an increase to the federal minimum wage rate to $9, and lawmakers introducing a bill yesterday that would actually increase that amount to $10.10 over the next two years, folks around the country are debating the merits and problems of the issue. But Costco CEO Craig Jelinek says he is firmly behind the move. [More]
San Francisco Restaurant Ordered To Fork Over $525,000 In Back Pay To Employees
By 2.13.13
Employees at a restaurant in San Francisco were working up to 14 hours a day, six days a week for only $4/hour. But now, in the largest settlement of its kind in the city, the restaurant owners will pay out $525,000 in back wages and penalties. [More]
San Francisco Becomes First U.S. City To Cross $10 Minimum Wage Line
By 12.12.11
When the calendar flips over to 2012, minimum wage workers in San Francisco will be making a bit more, as the city becomes the first local in the U.S. with a bottom-line pay rate of more than $10/hour. [More]
Cheap Chinese Labor Will Die On Jan 1 With A Minimum Wage Increase
By 11.11.11
Many of the things you buy and own were touched at some point by Chinese hands, and those hands are about to get a little more expensive. The Guangdong province in China, the seat of the country’s manufacturing might, is going to get a 20% minimum wage increase starting January 1st, 2012. [More]
McDonald's To Beef Up Workforce With 50,000 More Employees In April
By 4.5.11
Confirming that no matter how bad the job market gets, America’s hunger for fast food makes burger-flipping a growth industry, McDonald’s announced plans to hire 50,000 new American employees April 19. [More]
Study: Higher Minimum Wage Doesn't Increase Unemployment
By 11.1.10
A new study shows that increased minimum wage does not increase unemployment. [More]
Lower Cost Of Living Means Less Income For Some
By 10.17.09
The good news: the cost of living is decreasing, or at least isn’t increasing. The bad news: Colorado is the first state to actually decrease its minimum wage, from $7.28 to $7.24, and Social Security recipients will not be receiving their routine cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA for 2010.
