In my area, there is an organization that gives restaurants a little plaque and a grant ensure all employees, both front and back of house, receive a fair wage. This wage is determined by the average monthly cost of a one bedroom apartment in the area, factoring this amount to be 30% of the employee's monthly wages should they work full time. It's been decided by this organization to be a minimum of $15 and some change per hour. As a bartender I now make half as much as I did before this “fair wage” came into effect. I have been in the service industry for fifteen years and have cultivated skills that should reflect my income. I read the sales reports each night I work and factor what we front of house employees would have made given previous tip structures, and that sum is usually double if not more. Over a decade worth of knowledge and skill and suddenly I am back to making the money when I started.
The reason this is allowed to happen is because, as they've mostly done away with tipping, a percentage of the bill in the form of a fee has been tacked onto diner's checks. Tips are property of the employees. Fees are property of the employer and they can do whatever they'd like with them. My employers claim these fees are spread throughout the house, for back of house as well, yet there is no transparency. There is no way to know that this money is going to who they say it is, nor would it be illegal if it wasn't. To challenge this structure would imply I want the back of house employees to be paid less. In reality I want BOH to be paid more than this minimum but I want it to be paid from the restaurant's profits, not this fee, because I now can not afford to work in the industry I've been in my entire adult life. They are expecting a level of experience and professionalism that came from my years of work but aren't willing to pay for it what I am worth. What fair wage actually means – not that employees should make a minimum of $15/hr but that employees will make only $15/hr.