WorkforceOne Fair Wage has launched a hotline where tipped employees can tell their stories of mistreatment and get legal counsel on what to do.
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A union-backed group aiming to kill New York’s tip credit has set up a legal-advice hotline for servers who believe they’ve been sexually harassed, had their wages stolen or otherwise been abused by co-workers or guests.
The group, One Fair Wage, maintains that those problems are stoked by the tipping model, since customers can withhold gratuities, a big part of waitstaffers’ income, at will. They argue that servers can’t afford to alienate a customer acting inappropriately and are open to retribution if they complain about a boss or co-worker.
One Fair Wage has argued that requiring restaurants to directly pay servers the full minimum wage will lessen the waitstaff’s dependence on tips and maintaining favor with guests.
It says the hotline is necessary now that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has refused to support legislation that would disallow the state’s tip credit.
“She has refused to act—and so we are taking action ourselves,” Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage, said in a statement.
The setup will also enable One Fair Wage to collect the sort of upsetting stories it’s used in the past to paint the tip credit as a horror for servers and bartenders. In those accounts, the workers suffered ill treatment rather than taking a cut in their tips.
The number is 646-470-9113.
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