Does the US have zero employee protection laws??
Just following on from this: https://lemmy.nz/post/1134134
Ex-Tesla employee reveals shocking details on worker conditions: 'You get fired on the spot.'
I'm curious about how far this goes.
You can't get fired on the spot in NZ, unless you like, shot someone or set the building on fire or something really bad.
But it seems that in the US, there's little to no protections for employees when their bosses are dickheads?
Also, any personal stories of getting fired on the spot?
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"Firing on the spot" is just one item on a long list. No maternity leave, health insurance bound to the job, reliance on tips to pay workers, lack of whistleblower protection, laughable PTO, limited paid time off for health reasons. All of that has been solved in civilized countries, except for the US.
This is crazy to me. Especially tip culture. They tried to start that here for a while but it got shut down.
I'm surprised that they manage to find people who are willing to work for tips. Surely wouldn't the unreliability be off putting?
In my experience, most chain restaurants back of house line cooks get paid fairly low. So let's say the highest paid linecook gets 18 an hour. They work 8 hours and make $144 that day before taxes and it is added to their check. Most of the servers in the front of house would make around $150 as well but they worked less hours. (Usually 5-6 hours). They also walk with the tip money at the end of the night. Then they claim what they wish to because the government can't prove how much you made in tips. Many claim they made far less, others claim what they made for other reasons.
It is common to see servers make twice what cooks do. Which creates an atmosphere where front/back of house don't get along all the time either.
Ironically, jobs that rely on tips are some of the most inflation resistant besides CEOs, since tips are usually a percentage of the price. It's unreliable, but very well paying. Employers are also required by law to make up the difference in pay if the tipped worker does not make minimum wage with tips, though many times the employees won't do this since its incredibly common for tipped workers to not declare tips for taxes
It depends on the restaurant to the degree, but tipped positions are almost always the highest paid position.
*If the employer is nice enough to provide any of these things in the first place. Many don't! For anyone outside the United States, I am not kidding. You can be a full-time worker in the US, working 40+ hours a week, and not get any health insurance, vacation, or paid sick leave. Any!
FWIW, I haven't had a job that didn't have all those things since I was 16. I am in the US.
It's not hard to find jobs that have all those things. But you have to be choosey.
There are also jobs where you work 12 weeks a year and get paid $40 Million, but we’re talking about protections for everyone.