How to Pay Employee's Less than Minimum Wage

Posts: 8185

Employees across the country are hired at minimum wage, or so they're told.

When your employer expects you to show up early and ready to work, you are working off the clock. You are making yourself immediately available if they need you, but they don't pay you for it and won't let you punch in a minute early unless they need you.

You may be required to wear a company issued uniform and launder it yourself, or they may force you to buy one. Your company may only provide one or two uniforms requiring you to do laundry every other day to meet their standards of hygiene. They may offer a laundry service that is inconvenient and only once a week to justify this. This laundering isn't just your time off the clock, it's also your overhead costs.

Many employers have done away with time cards and have you electronically punch in. If you're in a service type business, you may have to wait for customers at the register to punch in. If you get a half hour break, you may be waiting twice in one day. Because you're punched in electronically, your manager or boss may clock you out. You may be clocked out before you're allowed to leave the premises in the name of security for the closing manager (but I think it's really about the business).

Some of these things may seem insignificant on their own, but employer's know how much they add up (a mere 5 minutes per day x 5 days per week x 52 weeks per year = 1,300 minutes/ 60 minutes per hour = 21.67 x Current minimum wage of $7.15 = $154.92 / year).

Posts: 640

its surfdom...

they treat us like niggers(i got nothing against black ppl, im simply using it because it gets more attention then just using the word slave) , they also expect u to work ALL the time.. ie like a machine, if u take a longer break or an "unauthorized" break they fire u ... also i get an hour lunch off the clock... thats only cuz they are required by law to give us that lunch, however, its basically another wasted hour, i still have to stay at work (or waste gas/time going home and back) and turns my 8 hour day into a 9 hour day...

basically what it comes down to is we are all wage slaves... we dont have choice in our wage (when we do its not much) and we cant pick our own hours etc... they get mad if u call in (either cuz ur sick or cuz u just need an extra day off) even tho they dont lose money when ur not there....

bottomline... this shit sux!

Posts: 8185

The Profit Share Bonus: Let a manager have some share in the profits, but pay them poorly otherwise. They'll be punching employees out early, finding ways to deny or delay raises, and make people work with faulty equipment (air conditioning, and other things that make the job more miserable/ harder) as well as shortchanging the customers all in the name of that bonus.

Posts: 519

	Quote:
	bottomline... this shit sux!

agreed