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Mum Shares $9 Paycheck After Working Over 70 Hours As A Server

Mum Shares $9 Paycheck After Working Over 70 Hours As A Server

The shocking calculation has left many calling for the restaurant industry to urgently change.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

A woman has highlighted the confusing and strange workplace laws in America in a video showing her pay.

Aaliyah Cortez, from Austin Texas, uploaded footage of her looking at her pay cheque, which has baffled people all over the world. After working for 70 hours, the mum had received a whopping $9.28 in wages.

The server and bartender had actually earned $150 over the course of that working period at a rate of $2.13 per hour. However, because her employer deducts medicare, taxes and social security from her pay, she's left with less than a tenner.

Aaliyah posted the video to her TikTok account in a bid to highlight the way hospitality workers get paid.

She's told Buzzfeed: "There are laws set up that allow tipped employees to be paid under the federal minimum wage, which makes us rely on the customer to pay our wages.

f.aa.ded/TikTok

"It's not right that we have to do this, but I wanted to shed some light on the issue and inform the public about the importance of tipping."

Thankfully for the mum, during that same working period, she managed to earn $700 in tips. But she doesn't believe the hospitality system should rely on customers' goodwill and workers like her should be given a fair, normal wage.

But this isn't just an issue with the sports bar that employs her, it's endemic across the industry.

Aaliyah added that her tips get reported to tax authorities, who factor in how much she is taxed on her pay.

She told Buzzfeed: "If I had a good two weeks from tips, my check will be on the lower side. At my last restaurant, my checks would come out to be $0."

f.aa.ded/TikTok

Her average pay cheque ends up between $4 and $11, which to anyone who has worked 70 hours sounds outrageous.

Aaliyah's short clip has been reposted by loads of people on different social media platforms, with people around the world gawking at the way the American system works.

It's sparked a larger debate about whether employers in the United States should increase their employee's wages to protect their staff and, as a result, stop making customers tip at such a high rate.

America has one of the highest expected rates of gratuity of between 15 and 25 per cent, with people across many different jobs and industries hoping for a tip at every interaction with a customer.

Featured Image Credit: f.aa.ded/TikTok

Topics: Viral, News, Interesting