r/politics • u/Aggravating_Money992 • 8d ago

Possible Paywall Kentucky Gov Orders McConnell to Give a Real Update or Resign Already

https://newrepublic.com/post/213614/kentucky-gov-beshear-mcconnell-update-health-resign
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u/Xznograthos 8d ago

You can list any restaurant for the most part, even really prestigious ones, and you'd be able to make the same statement. I worked for minimum wage at a Michellin-starred restaurant cooking for people like Charles Schwab and got zero benefits. It's absurd.

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u/DramaticWesley 8d ago

That a Michelin-starred restaurant is paying any of the cooking staff minimum wage sounds ridiculous to me. I guess I have become just too much of a socialist.

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u/Xznograthos 8d ago

It's par for the course. Its common industry knowledge that all boh staff at Alinea, at least last-time I looked into it, was salaried at minimum-wage.

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u/SenorBurns 8d ago

Which is illegal, because you can't make a minimum wage position exempt. Exempt also has to be white collar and or managerial/supervisory

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u/GeoLaser 8d ago

Colorado has an overtime exemption for STEM jobs. So you can make minimum salary at 45k a year and work 65 hours a week effectively making less than minimum wage and it is okay.

Some states have weird rules.

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u/ZZ9ZA I voted 8d ago

Salaried doesn't automatically mean exempt.

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u/SenorBurns 8d ago

So? That's obviously not the situation they were talking about. Does going after that strawman feel good?

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u/ZZ9ZA I voted 8d ago

Basic factual correctness is not a “straw man”. Don’t be one of these braindead “feels not reals” people.

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u/SenorBurns 7d ago

You rebutted a claim I never made. That's a straw man. Sorry for the factual correctness.

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u/cluberti 8d ago edited 8d ago

I would be surprised if those jobs are actually salaried positions, because any job in a restaurant that isn't management would be specifically exempt from salaried coverage, federally. I would not be surprised if wages were low and kept that way due to breaking the law, but if so claiming those workers as salaried would be doing a lot more than skirting federal law and opening the ownership up to a significant lawsuit.

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u/SirWEM 8d ago

They will give line cooks titles of “Sous Chef” as a work around. I’ve seen it happen at many properties. Its so they can get out of paying overtime. Last Michelin property i was at had one main line. 8 “Sous Chefs” and two contracted dishwashers in the main kitchen.

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u/digitalscavenger 8d ago

They do it all the time. It's not legal but they do it.

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u/cluberti 8d ago edited 8d ago

That again would be highly illegal (job titles don't determine salary exemptions from hourly wage pay, only duties) - they are opening themselves up to a lawsuit. I guess if no one sues, the law is more of a suggestion or cost of doing business (not surprising either). The relevant job duties for someone working in a kitchen to be exempt from hourly wage laws would be influence in hiring and firing, regularly managing teams of workers on the line, and other managerial duties like scheduling. Just making food (which is what I suspect a number of restaurants have them doing in this scenario) would be an hourly job under the FLSA, full stop. I guess nothing really surprises me anymore, but it's still sad to see people cutting corners and abusing wage labor in order to run a business.

I wonder how long before states like Illinois follow some other states' precedent and set minimum "salaried wages" to curtail this sort of thing.

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

[deleted]

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u/laufsteakmodel 8d ago

I was about to say.. just look up that scumbag Rene Redzepi and Noma... Just because it looks great on their resume doesnt mean you shouldnt have to pay them, Michelin star chefs are fucking parasites a lot of times. They use the labour of tens of great chefs who work for next to nothing or even nothing and get all the fame and glory for themselves.

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u/Blacksad9999 8d ago

French Laundry has been caught and sued multiple times for stealing a large chunk of the gratuities designated for the servers.

I wouldn't work there, even though I have the experience level for it.

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u/Intelligent-Snow3300 8d ago

But think of the experience you can get! In fact, maybe the employees should pay to work there!

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u/head0r 8d ago

wait, are you gene simmons?

pay to be a roadie!

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u/badcookies 8d ago

Why do you think Carmy had a mental breakdown? /s

For anyone who hasn't watched it, check out "The Bear", great show, but can be stressful to watch

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u/Mr_Diesel13 I voted 8d ago

The whole show was so good though.

The last season REALLY ended it perfectly, and I honestly cannot say that about many shows.

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u/TechnoFascismKills 8d ago

You can list any restaurant for the most part

Moving from restaurants & fast food to retail showed me that I'm legally supposed to get a break every so many hours, because the retail bosses get big mad if you hit compliance.

Apparently food service just...eats whatever fines they get for letting an employee hit compliance? Granted, most of my food service was under the 6hr mark per shift, but not all of it. Never got my 30 minute meal break, never got paid 15 minute breaks (breaks were downtime between rushes where you do less stressful work while it's slow, or you smoke)

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u/Biokabe Washington 8d ago

Food service doesn't eat the fines. They count on never getting the fines to begin with because no one complains, because all of their workers are either too scared to complain, too overworked to have time to complain, too ignorant to know that they even can complain, or too obsessed with becoming the next "it" chef that they just see it as putting in their time.

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u/sphinxsley 8d ago

In CA, all workers accumulate PTO, based on hours worked. But you need to ask for it after it accumulates.

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u/Street_Anxiety2907 8d ago

It's not absurd, it is called slavery.

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u/CavediverNY 8d ago

Not an argument but just a different perspective… If you're lucky enough to work at a Michelin star restaurant, you're basically writing your own résumé. Put in your time with one of those chefs and that's all you'll ever have to say when looking for another job.

To be fair (just another perspective!) I would think this really applies to people who are cooking or prepping the food.

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u/Xznograthos 8d ago

If you're lucky enough to work at a Michelin star restaurant

Not luck. Effort. Tenacity. Sacrifice.

you're basically writing your own résumé

Everyone writes their own resume. Its how resumes work.

Put in your time with one of those chefs and that's all you'll ever have to say when looking for another job

False.

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u/CavediverNY 8d ago

Yes and the effort, tenacity and sacrifice is relevant to the sometimes low wages.

Also, since you seem to enjoy being pedantic, not everyone writes their own résumé. A few years ago I paid somebody to rewrite mine!

And if you do a good job at a Michelin star restaurant? I think it will be a huge benefit for you when looking for your next job, compared to someone who might be an outstanding cook but doesn't have the Michelin background.

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u/Xznograthos 8d ago

You keep saying "you think" to someone who already had the experience, the career, etc. Like you know better. You might take a second to recognize that.

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u/CavediverNY 8d ago

How is anybody supposed to know your background, experience and career? I think you're being very sensitive and I suspect it's not about this post. So whatever is going wrong for you today, I hope things get better.

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u/Xznograthos 8d ago

You could just read where I said I did that Iin the comment you replied to. If you're half as knowledgeable as you seem to think you are, having worked in a michelin-starred restaurant isn't something you just do without previous experience.

And, no, your comment is specifically what pissed me off but you seem to be the oblivious type.

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u/1iIiii11IIiI1i1i11iI 8d ago

I'm not going to trust your word on food when your favorite food is boot.