Favortism in the workplace resulting in unfair pay

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robertson0603

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I'm begging someone to please read this I know it's grossly long! I did a bit of research and something like this is hard to prove and show. With details intact it paints a much more accurate picture. Keep in mind I have a whole group of current employees that can collaborate what is about to be put forth.



From what I have read, favoritism in the workplace has been something long disputed – but it always comes down to it not being illegal. But, what if the favoritism results in certain employees making more money than the rest on a regular basis? That is what is happening at the restaurant that my wife and I work at, and myself along with the other employees are not sure how to approach it. The situation I'm about to describe is small time, and the chips are stacked against us being that we lose many rights because we are at-will employed, but there really is something going on that isn't right and simply can't be legal. The practices by our manager are enforced with yelling, verbal abuse, and constant offers that we should quit if we don't like it.

In the food-server industry the money you make comes primarily from tips you receive from tables. The restaurant I work in has three main dining rooms. First dining, which is closest to the door, yields the most tip money. The room stays busier because it is in the front of the restaurant, is busy even when the restaurant is slow, and has larger sections (for several people – we'll get to that in a second). It is a fact that customers are in a worse mood as soon as they get sat in second or third because of the smell of smoke, the irregular temperatures, and the chaos. It is normal for a skilled server in first dining to make at least $80+ in a given shift, while the same sever, on the same day the following week, in the third dining room would make $40. If several people didn't have set sections in first dining, at times half the room being "reserved", others would have a chance to make better money.

What is upsetting a number of employees is that several people are being given an unfair advantage to make money by being placed in the highest money yielding sections. The manager acknowledges that he places them in these sections, and when grilled on the spot as to why – he told me if I didn't like it to get the hell out. The best example of this would be his wifes best friend; they go shopping, go to bars, and every week they go out and play darts. The person just described has not been in second or third dining a single time in over a year and a half. It is upsetting to otherwise loyal employees when (this is a true/recent) they make $30 and have to decide to finish up their rent or put food on the table, when Ginger upfront made over $100 that same day. She comes into work everyday knowing that she will be assigned to be only in first dining. The manager supports this, claiming that she was grandfathered the section before he arrived at the store. Problem with that is; (a) even if a former manager grandfathered something does not make it legal and does not give it a right to continue, (b) we are all on the same pay grade and we should be entitled to an equal opportunity to make money, and (c) even if the verbal agreement was made, there is no contract between any employees and the employer in this case. This continues to this day despite the entire wait staff being upset about it. Upon approaching management we are told to shut up, clock out, and go home if we don't like it. I know your going to be like "Find another job," but I don't feel I should have to.

Now check this out, and this may be damning proof.

The whole wait staff has been upset lately. Some people want to try and sit down with people from corporate offices and lay it all out. Others are simply growing more and more disgruntled. As a form of personal protection, my wife has been carrying a voice recording with her while at work. One day I was sick and my wife went into work without me. This is what happened: My wife was in second dining, and a friend of the manager – we will call her Esther – was in first dining. Let it be known that Esther baby sits his children and that her husband is always hanging out with the manager outside of work. He attended her baby shower, they drink together, etc. Esther had probably already made at least $30 that day. My wife was at $4 when a thirty person party came into the restaurant. The whole party, aside from six people, sat in my wife's section.

What happened next is all on tape. The manager says the table is going to Esther. Amy gets upset about it and says that most of the table is in her section. He says that it is his decision and he is tired of people questioning him (my wife nor I have never bothered him about anything). A few minutes later Esther needs help carrying a glass and asks Amy. Amy carries the glass with reluctance; Esther goes "are you mad at me?". She tells her that she is more like pissed off because she has no idea why the manager did that. Esther tells my wife that she was told she had to. A voice recording device proves my wife had not said anything to anyone and that she was instead offering colors to a new trainee and just hanging out as was everyone else. Esther runs up to my wife and snarls at her that if she wants to talk shit, do it to her face. My wife is flabbergasted but defensive and says "I am!". Esther runs to her best friend, the manager, and tells him that Amy is "talking shit". My wife states "I'm not being rude to her I just told her I had a problem with it." He says "I'm the one that made the decision not her!". My wife says "I'm a good server too." He replies "That's not the point Amy." My wife was like "hello?". He was like "Hello? If you don't like it you can clock out and go home and not come back!" My wife goes "You're rude." to which he yells back "I know I'm rude aint I?". My wife is never the type to get into verbal spats. We've both been there close to two years and never had a problem with anyone. Being chewed out by the manager upset her to the point of tears. She regained her composer, took another table or two, but then after being eyed by the manager as she walked by the galley she started crying again. She was bawling in the back storage room. You can hear her saying things about how she has never been yelled at like that before, etc. What right does he have to inflict such harsh emotional distress on a employee that is not being insubordinate? Another server tells the manager he should "talk to her." This is close to thirty minutes after he originally chewed her out. Do you know what the hell he does? He walks into the back storage room, tells a girl that is consoling her to "get the hell out", and then immediately rips into my wife. He literally turned the corner, told the girl to get out, and started yelling at this tiny 19 year old girl that had not once raised her voice. He chews into her that he will not have her talk down to him, that when he makes a decision he is tired of people questioning it, and states: "I am the general manager. I run this restaurant. If you'll don't like it you can get the hell out and not come back, I don't care." He goes out of the room and she is just crying hysterical. A girl that witnessed it was left in awe as to what just happened. She, during all these instances, got less than five words out.

Keep in mind this is a pristine recording. If you listen to it you will see my wife did everything the right way. She never did not talk shit, she never was rude, never raised her voice, and carried herself in a eloquent manner based on the circumstances. This recording really is something that could throw a jury. It's candid but has such blatant favoritism and verbal abuse on it. In addition you have other employees, who came to console her, state their opinions about the manager. At least six different people acknowledged on this one tape that he is going off the deep end, is yelling a lot, etc. This furthers that this is not an isolated event and that he is using retaliation and verbal abuse to enforce favoritism that results in other people losing money.

Now all this to defend him giving away tables to friends of his. It really is that. There was no reason to give this table to Esther other than maybe he was scheduled to play darts with her that night. That's WRONG. She made $30 off that one table. Other people that day made less than $20.

As soon as I heard about this, and heard the recording of him flat out yelling at my wife, I was up there in ten minutes. I tried to keep my composer knowing that the voice recorder was now in my pocket. I explained to him how I feel about him yelling my wife and what would happen if I saw him coming down on another female server like that. The discussion about the days happening quickly went into issues of him having favoritism and how it effects the other servers. When I demanded an answer to why it was that Ginger had not been in second or third dining rooms in a year and a half, he would get quite a second and then tell me if I didn't like it I could get the hell out. When I told him that it was not just myself but other that were upset, he said he had no problem firing everybody and starting over and that he can do things however he wants. When I told him there are equal opportunity laws and that he is breaking a law by not giving employees the same potential to make money, he stated that it is his restaurant and he will do whatever he wants. I've got it all on tape.

There have been other instances when servers bring up and issue and are verbally abused. A new hire, who was though an experienced server, worked here for two weeks then called bullshit. She was thoroughly upset that she had been in second and third dining rooms everyday for over a week when Ginger and Annie and at the time Esther all had set section in the front dining room. She made her concerns known and this caused the for mentioned people to start retaliating against her with rudeness and job security threats. She made enough noise and it resulted in a "team meeting." She voices her opinions and ends up getting berated by the manager. He pulls the "grandfathered card" - and I, like other in the room, stayed quite because this is our income you know? He's proven he does not care and that he will fire us on a whim. She ends up getting distressed and quitting about two weeks later. She ends up coming back, broken, saying that she just had to go along with it.

THIS IS WRONG. We are at-willed employed but we do still have rights. This was followed by two days off for both my wife and I, but we go into work tomorrow. We have heard from other employees that Ginger and the manager are adamant in making sure nothing will change and are going to have a bold-faced meeting to enforce this.


Can someone give me the legal scope of this issue?

-Steven
 
The law does not say, favoritism is not illegal unless it results in someone being treated unfairly.

Your post is far too long for me to read. But the bottom line is, there is no law that says everyone in the same position has to be paid identically. The ONLY thing the law says on the subject is that if one person is paid more than another, it can't be based on gender (later expanded to include race, religion, national origin, and other protected characteristics).
 
...A new hire, who was though an experienced server, worked here for two weeks then called bullshit....


What do you think the resolution should be here?
 
I think the resolution should be that since the new hire is on the same pay grade as everyone else, they should be entitled to have the opportunity to make the same amount of money as everyone else. A new hire, who is properly trained, should be allowed the same opportunity as everyone else. Keep in mind though that this isn't just about new hires; our managers favoritism is directly resulting in a couple of servers always making more money than everyone else.
 
You have not indicated that anything illegal is happening.

You have no case.
 
You can complain all you want that the law is not fair, it does not mean anything illegal is happening. The EEOC only will help if you are in a protected class, and that is the reason you are being treated unfairly.

Sounds like somebody should just look for another job.
 
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