Orange County Employment Lawyers Blog
In some gas station markets, you can go to the counter where fresh sandwiches and other food is prepared and use a computer screen to place your order. You can decide what you want on it, what you want with it, and pay for your order at the kiosk. You are then given a printed ticket to show to the workers making your order at the food counter.
According to Wendy’s, the well known fast food chain , responded to recent decisions by lawmakers in California and New York to raise their respective minimum wages for workers to $15 per hour is causing the restaurant chain to replace actual employees with electronic kiosks that allow customers to place and pay for their orders.
According to a recent news feature from ABC 7, the fast food chains will begin to put these automated ordering and payment kiosks in the company owned stores. However, as this is also largely a franchise run business, the majority of the 6,000 Wendy’s are not company owned stores. However, the company says that it will provide the franchisees with a choice of purchasing the kiosks so they can reduce their labor costs when the new higher wage in Los Angeles goes into effect.
One thing to keep in mind is that these large companies tend to like to blame things like the health insurance mandate or an increased minimum wage in Los Angeles as the reason they are getting rid of employees and replacing them with automatic registers and kiosks, but, in reality, they have been doing this and similar things for a long time. They will often time workforce cutbacks to coincide with things like the increased minimum wage or healthcare mandate so they can claim they had no choice. It also seems to be a way to mitigate against future increases that are likely to come.
The reality of the situation is that the minimum wage is going to be increased in Los Angeles, so workers will actually be paid what is closer to an actual living wage. However, despite the fact that there is a new law, and there will likely be a high level of enforcement when the new law takes effect, there will be some employers who will try to take advantage of employees by paying them less than minimum wage, not paying overtime, and not paying benefits that should properly be provided to their employees. If you are the victim of an employer who is not paying you all of the compensation to which you are legally entitled, you should speak with a wage and hour dispute lawyer as soon as possible to see if you have a case. It is often helpful to keep a record of the hours you worked and anything your employer has said to you about why are you are not being provided with proper benefits. It is also helpful to take these notes as close to time the incidents occur as possible, so they can be used as stronger evidence should litigation be in your employment case.
Contact the employment attorneys at Nassiri Law Group, practicing in Orange County, Riverside and Los Angeles. Call 949.375.4734.
Additional Resources:
FACING CA WAGE HIKE, WENDY’S TO REPLACE WORKERS WITH KIOSKS, May 17, 2016, ABC News, By News Desk
More Blog Entries:
Top 5 Areas the EEOC is Pursuing Litigation to Protect Workers, Jan. 15, 2016, Orange County gender discrimination attorney blog