Kiernan Dunn was formerly a contributor for Wasatch Magazine. She is speaking in her capacity as a barista and not a member of U student Media, of which the Chronicle is a part of.
The Speak Out Act’s passage in both congressional houses indicates an important victory for the #MeToo movement. The law “prohibits the use of nondisclosure and nondisparagement agreements in the case of sexual harassment and assault,” according to SHRM Online. This will protect employees from bad faith nondisclosure agreements so they can speak out about sexual harassment and assault. However, more work must be done to fight against systemic sexual victimization by eliminating the tipped minimum wage.
Tipped workers endure a grim reality. According to MIT’s Living Wage Calculator, a living wage in Utah in 2022 would be $16.98 an hour for a single adult with no children. Minimum wage workers receive much less than that at $7.25 an hour, but the tipped minimum wage is only $2.13 an hour.
In her article about working for tips as a server in Utah, C.J. Alexander described paychecks ranging from $0 to $25. Sometimes, she even owed her employer money to cover her taxes. The extremely low tipped minimum wage makes tipped workers reliant on tips to supplement their wages. This inherently makes working for tips stressful because wages are subject to wide variability. Therefore, what a tipped worker earns can’t ever accurately capture the dollar amount that a server’s hard work...
Blow the whistle, get paid. A Justice Department bounty program that incentivizes employees to blow the whistle on their employers could lead to more whistleblowing as the Trump administration inte...