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Waffle House servers are getting a raise — to $3 an hour
Waffle House CEO Joe Rogers III says the restaurant chain is making its “single largest additional investment in our workforce” in its 68-year history by hiking base pay for servers to three bucks an hour.
The raises take effect this month and follow a more than year-long campaign led by a union that represents service workers in the South. The effort involved strikes and petitions calling for higher pay, safer working conditions and an end to mandatory paycheck deductions for meals.
Waffle House’s base pay — excluding tips — will increase to at least $5.25 an hour for all of the company’s 2,000 locations by June 2026, with additional increases based on seniority and shift Rogers said in a video to employees.
Many restaurants around the U.S. offer what is known as the “tipped minimum wage.” Under labor law, they can offer as little as $2.13 an hour if that amount combined with tips at least matches the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, where it has stood since 2009.
Waffle House is not changing its policy that has servers keeping their own gratuities, as it would be “crazy to go down the road of service charges instead of tips,” said Rogers, who also discarded the idea of pooling tips.
Rogers also said Waffle House will seek to offset the additional labor costs by raising its menu prices, noting that patrons at the chain’s urban locations would be among those charged more.
The company has not unveiled any actions to respond to workers’ other concerns, including safety, particularly at locations that are open 24/7 and have been known to draw disorderly patrons.
In April. a brawl at a Waffle House near Ohio State University’s campus led to a shooting that killed one man, while in February an early morning shooting at a Waffle House in Indianapolis killed one person and wounded five more.
Waggle House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Privately held Waffle House operates about 2,000 locations, including hundreds in Georgia, where the company is based.
Some states have moved to lift the pay of restaurant workers, who are more likely to live in poverty than employees in other fields. In April, for example, the minimum wage for most fast-food workers in California rose to $20 per hour, the highest base across the U.S. restaurant industry.
Prior to the California pay hike, the highest paid fast-food workers in the U.S. were in Washington State, which has a minimum wage of $16.28 per hour.
NEW YORK – The man accused of killing three people when drove drunk into a crowd on the Lower East Side on July 4th was arraigned on a host of charges Saturday.
Daniel Hyden of Monmouth Junction, N.J. is charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, aggravated vehicular assault, manslaughter, assault and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated charges. Hyden was driving with a suspended license, prosecutors said.
According to prosecutors, Hyden, 44, drove a Ford F-150 pickup truck into the crowd at Corlears Hook Park just before 9 p.m. local time. He allegedly ran through a stop sign at the intersection of Water and Cherry Streets, drove up onto the sidewalk, slammed through the chain link fence, and into the crowd.
Eleven people were killed or injured, prosecutors said. The three people killed have been identified as Lucille Pinkney, 59, and her son Herman Pinkney, 38, and Ana Morel, 43. Another person was critically injured, and seven others hospitalized. The youngest victim was 11, according to prosecutors.
Responding police officers say they found Hyden on the ground next to the driver’s-side door, wearing pants but no shirt or shoes. He had bloodshot eyes, was stumbling and there was “a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath.”
“I hope we get justice”
Photos provided
On Friday, Family members of the victims returned to the scene, some breaking down in tears.
“I hope we get justice for my brother and my mother,” Diamond Pinkney said. “Herman, I love you. I’m going to do you proud.”
“We’re all devastated with this. It breaks my heart, and I’m so sad about it,” neighbor Nereida Garcia said.
Four people were fatally shot and three people were injured in a mass shooting in Kentucky on Saturday, the Florence Police Department said in a statement.
Officers arrived at a private residence at 2:51 a.m. to see seven people shot – and found out the suspect had fled the scene in his car. Police said they located the fleeing suspect and tried to nab him during a traffic stop, but he continued to drive.
A chase ensued, police said, and only ended when the suspect’s car drove into a ditch off the roadway. The suspect was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.
Three of the victims were taken to UC Health Hospital. They are currently listed in critical but stable condition, officials said.
Everyone was attending a birthday pool party, Florence Church of God, a local church, posted on its social media. One of their congregation’s sisters asked for prayers for her friend whose daughter was killed in the shooting.
“A man came in uninvited on a birthday pool party and killed four people,” the church’s Pastor Campbell wrote.
One of them was a friend’s daughter, the pastor wrote, and “her granddaughter is in the hospital with gunshot wounds.”
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
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