Half of Instacart’s drivers earn less than minimum wage, labor group claims

Re:Half of Instacart’s drivers earn less than minimum wage, ... by Eridrus on Saturday April 20, 2019 @11:00PM (#19710297)

To play devil's advocate for a moment: most wait staff are paid primarily with tips, unless they don't meet minimum wage, in which case the employer makes up the difference.

This is functionally equivalent to the situation at Instacart.

Tipping is a really bad practice that we should end, rather than defend.

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Re:Half of Instacart’s drivers earn less than minimum wage, ... by zamadatix on Sunday April 21, 2019 @07:06AM (#19711537)

Devil's advocate? Places that take the tips from the wait staff and pocket them are operating illegally.

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Re:Half of Instacart’s drivers earn less than minimum wage, ... by kevinventullo on Sunday April 21, 2019 @11:17AM (#19712433)

While they cannot pocket the tips, they can legally subtract the tips from the employee's hourly wage, even if that means going under the "minimum wage", which essentially amounts to the same thing as pocketing.

See https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs15.htm

N.b. The employer is unable to do this if they don't know about the tip, which is why, as I understand it, tipping in cash is preferred by folks working in the service industry.

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Re:Half of Instacart’s drivers earn less than minimum wage, ... by skellera on Sunday April 21, 2019 @09:41PM (#19715757)

That’s not the reason. Cash tipping is preferred so they don’t have to pay tax on it.

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