A study conducted by the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign showed that 59% of Texas fast-food workers rely on government assistance programs such as food stamps and Medicaid to support themselves and their families.
This ranks Texas as the seventh-largest percentage of front-line fast-food workers on government assistance among the 24 states featured in the report.
According to Employment Policies Institute research director Michael Saltsman, employers would replace their workers with automated machinery if the minimum wage was raised significantly. Therefore, Saltsman added, tax payers must decide whether to partially support lower-skilled fast-food workers, or support them entirely if they were to lose their jobs to an “unrealistic wage mandate.
If you or a loved one work in a hostile work environment or are being payed below minimum wage, you may consider seeking legal representation. Please share your story with our attorneys at The Melton Law Firm in Austin by calling (512) 330-0017 today.
More than 170 employees of the Houston-based Servisair filed a lawsuit alleging wage violations on Tuesday, July 23.
The lawsuit, which was filed in a New York federal court, claims Servisair intentionally rounded off the hours worked by the employees in favor of the company, docking lunch hours worked, and employing a time-management system that automatically decreases time worked for its employees – roughly five hours of overtime pay per week docked since at least 2010 – at more than 20 airports all across the nation.
The lawsuit filed is aiming for a class-action status and is seeking to get overtime compensation, damages, and attorney fees. It estimates the company has shortchanged employees tens of millions of dollars for the past three years.
Servisair, which provides services such as cleaning planes, fueling jets, and pushing wheelchairs, had no comments about the lawsuit at this time.
At Melton & Kummler LLP, our attorneys specialize in helping employees in Austin get the rightful pay they are owed. Thus, if you should ever find yourself in a situation in which you have been denied the wages you should have been paid, call us at 512-330-0067.
