How Subminimum Wages Serve Up Harassment In the Service Industry [Podcast]

Individuals working in the restaurant industry face some of the highest levels of workplace sexual harassment. According to a report from the Center on Poverty and Inequity, 90% of women working for tips within the foodservice industry have experienced some form of sexual harassment or assault. However, it is not just women that are being harassed and assaulted. That same report stated 60% of transgender individuals and 46% of men working for tips have also reported experiencing harassment or assault.

So, why are the rates for sexual harassment so much higher among tipped employees, and what can be done about it?  Yamila Ruiz, the Communications Director for One Fair Wage, discusses the origins  of subminimum wages, what their impacts are, and, what One Fair Wage is doing to eliminate the subminimum wage.  She also discusses how One Fair Wage was involved in the new joint publication by the Prevention Institute and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, A Health Equity Approach to Preventing Sexual Violence. as well as One Fair Wage’s November of 2020 report –  “Take Your Mask Off So I Know How Much To Tip You: Service Workers Experience of Health and Harassment During COVID 19”which documents over 1,600 individuals experiences.

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