Although every state in the U.S. has its own minimum wage laws for before and after tips, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) stipulates that the federal minimum wage for employees who receive tips for their work must be $2.13 per hour.
Additionally, that minimum wage combined with tips should amount to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour unless the state requires otherwise.
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However, waitstaff often fall into a grey area as they often do work outside of what most people typically associate with serving.
According to the Dual Jobs Rule Definition of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), work not included in the tipped occupation refers to:
"Any work that (1) does not provide service to customers for which tipped employees receive tips and (2) does not directly support tip-producing work. An employer may not take a tip credit for any time spent performing work that is not part of the tipped occupation."
This means that all other employees who perform jobs that don't fall within the category of tipped occupations must be paid at least full minimum wage.
If a tipped employee happens to perform duties that fall within the category of non-tipped occupations, then that employee must receive at least the full minimum wage for their work, according to the law.
Waffle House gets flipped by its union-led employees
In June, Waffle House announced it would increase its servers' wages after a year of strikes and petitions by union-coordinated workers.
The restaurant chain's employees unionized to demand that Waffle House provide better working conditions, higher pay, and an end to mandatory meal deductions, which were taken out of employees' paychecks regardless of whether they ate the food at the restaurant or not.
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The campaign ended after Waffle House's CEO, Joe Rogers III, announced in a video that the company promised to immediately raise all its employees' pay to at least $3 per hour and gradually increase it to $5.25 per hour by June 2026.
The rollout of salary raises would depend on individual states' minimum wages, workers' individual shifts, and years working at the restaurant.
"This is the single largest additional investment in our workforce in the entire 68-year history of Waffle House," said Rogers in the video announcement.
However, Waffle House's promise was not fast enough to meet its employees' needs.
Union exposes Waffle House's alleged labor infringements
On Thursday, The Union of Southern Service Workers (USSW) filed a wage and hours complaint against Waffle House with the U.S. Department of Labor.
The USSW argues that Waffle House is illegally underpaying its workers and justifies this by using tip earnings as an excuse.
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The union interviewed over 20 current and former Waffle House workers at various locations, who confirmed the company's alleged wage theft activities.
According to the interviewed workers, because the restaurant chain operates 24/7, there aren't enough workers to cover other tasks that would otherwise be performed by janitors, dishwashers, and cooks.
Since the company doesn't prioritize hiring employees solely for those roles, servers are in charge of completing those tasks while still getting paid the tipped minimum wage.
For some Waffle House employees who were initially hired as servers, performing these non-tipped jobs takes up most of their hourly shifts, yet the tasks they perform are not considered for full minimum wage.
If the U.S. Department of Labor proceeds with the filing, an official investigation against Waffle House would be launched, potentially penalizing the company for its alleged actions and remunerating workers for lost wages.
Waffle House didn't reply to The Street's request for comments.
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