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16th March 2023
11:16am GMT
A woman has gone viral after showing off her restaurant receipt which included a charge she'd never heard of - for "employee health".
In a recent TikTok, Ashley Nicole spoke about how she noticed the $5 charge after going out to dinner in Los Angeles, so decided to question the staff about it.
The video has racked up over one million views.
Nicole explains in her post, which she captioned, 'is this normal?': “The weirdest thing just happened to me. It’s cold and it’s rainy in LA, so me and my bestie decided to go out to dinner.
"We go to one of my favourite restaurants.
"This is the Osteria La Buca. It is an Italian restaurant here in LA and I’ve been to multiple times. We enjoy our meal. We get the check, we pay for our check, and as we are like signing the tip and stuff, we notice something.”
Nicole then shares a picture of her receipt that lists what they ate - including, steak ($42), ravioli, potatoes and a diet coke - and includes a 5 per cent charge of 'Employee Health'. Based on their bill, that appeared to be around $100, it came to just shy of $5.
Nicole explains: “Here’s the receipt, and if you notice down here towards the bottom, there is a $4.75 cent charge for employee health.
"Do you see that, a 5 percent charge for employee health? My immediate thought was, ‘What is employee health? What does that mean?’ We run through a couple of options and I’m like, ‘You know what? I’m just gonna ask.'”
So she did. As the pair were walking out Nicola asked the hostess to explain what the charge was for.
“I go up to the hostess and I’m like, ‘Hey, quick question, just curious. I saw that you guys charged us $5 each, not total for the table, each, both of us, for employee health and I just had to ask like, what is that?’ And she goes, ‘Oh, that’s our healthcare’ and my reaction was, ‘Your healthcare?’ And she goes, ‘Yes, our healthcare.'”
Nicole explained in her video that she had never heard of the charge before, and asked if it was normal.
The TikToker was left feeling confused and asked the internet if it was a common thing. "I had to find out – is that normal and have I been living under a rock? Is it a normal thing or is this weird because I’ve never experienced this before and it feels weird, but maybe this is normal elsewhere.
"Let me know ’cause I’ve never seen this before.”
In the US the service industry relies on tips due to staff not being paid very well, and customers are expected to do it. In a restaurant, around 15% is considered a good place to start.
Since the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act and further legislation in 1970, employers are only required to pay tipped workers a wage that would total the federal minimum wage when tips were added. The minimum wage for tipped employees (eg servers) is $2.13. Although it may seem odd for restaurant customers to pay for their server's healthcare, it shows just how difficult the healthcare system is for tipped employees in the US, Unilad notes.
Almost fifteen and a half thousand comments were posted on Nicole's story. Many commenters shared her disbelief: “I'm sorry but I’m not paying for this,” one commenter wrote.
Another joked: "Say you’re American without saying you’re American."
A third wrote: "I’m sorry but I’m not paying for this. Just tax and tip. Health care should be covered by employer. These fees are getting out of hand."
Another commenter added: "This is insane. I pay so much for my own healthcare and now restaurant employees! No way. That's owner responsibility."
Another TikTok user questioned the amount being added to the bill: "At $5 per customer for a whole month, that’s a very expensive policy."
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