$2.13 An Hour For Dish-Washing? Servers Sue Over Side Work

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Ask any restaurant server or bartender about side work and you are liable to get an earful. Sweeping floors, washing dishes, making salad? These are tasks that should pay minimum wage, but servers and bartenders routinely do them for as little as $2.13 per hour.

On Wednesday, a Ruby Tuesday server sued the restaurant chain claiming she is required to do excessive side work in a federal lawsuit she hopes will become a class action involving thousands of workers at 658 restaurants nationwide. The case is one of several, targeting some of the country's largest restaurant chains, filed after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 let stand a ruling allowing Applebee's employees to sue over side work. That suit ended in an undisclosed settlement with over 5,500 workers.

Ruby Tuesday, with headquarters in Maryville, issued a statement saying, "While we cannot comment on pending litigation, we are committed to our Ruby Tuesday team members, and we will be providing a vigorous defense of the company on this matter in the appropriate forum."

Untipped workers at McDonald's, Taco Bell and other restaurants have made headlines recently with their "Fight for $15" campaign, demanding that the fast food companies pay them at least $15 an hour. And raising the federal minimum wage, now $7.25 an hour, has become the subject of debate among policy makers, with some states moving their rates to $15 per hour.

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