legal: waitress wages being debated

[Theresadirect]

I was injured at Applebees on June 24 2010. They have only paid me 50.00 thus far and are fighting me/my lawyer on anything and everything. I make 2.63 an hour plus tips. When I got hurt I requested my vacation pay which Applebees human resources calculated at 13.98 an hour (based upon avg hourly reported.) However, Applebees has been sued in the past years over side-work time. Meaning when a waitress is asked to "wind down " (cut)and stop taking tables he/she still has customers who are not done dining and there are odd jobs/cleaning/restocking that must be done called side-work, so they cannot just leave. At times one works between one and two hours for 2.63 an hour (during these clean-up times and setting up before the restaurant is open or is closed) which is illegal because it is not the minimum wage. So having to do with workers comp - in reality my hourly wage is probably more like 19 dollars an hour as a five hour shift can require an hour and a half at least of off floor time. (no tips). How can I approach this and if their was a lawsuit in the past on this shouldn't it have stopped? State MA

[jayne]

Well first I am going to ask a point blank question,...Have you every day every shift reported every penny you made in tips? or did you just report a % of your sales?if you reported every penny then you are getting the right pay.......
Any of us who has waited tables knows side work is part of the job.....If you didnt report every penny then you are not getting the right pay but you have only your self to blame......

[Theresadirect]

jayne Wrote:Well first I am going to ask a point blank question,...Have you every day every shift reported every penny you made in tips? or did you just report a % of your sales?if you reported every penny then you are getting the right pay.......
Any of us who has waited tables knows side work is part of the job.....If you didnt report every penny then you are not getting the right pay but you have only your self to blame......

[Theresadirect]

Jayne,
Yes, I have reported everything. In fact I have received calls from corporate because they assumed my 30% tip ratio was incorrect at times. I also mentioned that I work at Applebees because their is a nationwide class action lawsuit regarding inaccuracies that exist in their system. But in any event my point is the workers comp insurance company is trying to only credit me the 2.63 an hr. which makes no sense since Applebees itself gets the percentage difference thru The Dept of Labor and FLA in tax regards. Under the law side work can make up only 20% of time worked Applebees is notorious for otherwise hence the class action suit. Thank you for your interest

[Bad Boy Bad Boy]

Income tax records surely would clear the pay scale rate right up in this matter.

You can go the you local Social Security Office, and ask for proof of wages for last year and this year.

[jayne]

if you were honest in your reporting then make em pay you....you may need a lawyer