Waffle House Servers Accuse Company of Forcing Unpaid Labor, Including Janitorial Duties

Waffle House servers are firing back at the breakfast chain, claiming they have been improperly paid for years.

They allege the company forces them to perform janitorial and dishwashing tasks at tipped wages, saving Waffle House up to $46.8 million annually. One employee making such accusations, Melissa “Kat” Steach, a server in Marietta, Georgia, navigates her 69-hour workweeks by serving food and ringing up orders for tips. However, she revealed that she also spends up to three hours per shift mopping floors, scrubbing toilets, and washing dishes, duties that go unpaid or are compensated at tipped rates far below the standard wage.

The Union of Southern Service Workers (USSW) has filed a federal wage theft complaint, arguing that Waffle House violates labor laws by requiring such unpaid work. Dorothy Singletary, assistant general counsel at the Service Employees International Union, described the issue as systemic.

“Stores don’t even hire janitors or dishwashers, instead relying on servers to pick up the slack,” Singletary explained.

For workers like Steach, the pay disparity is absurd. In Georgia, tipped wages start at just $2.13 an hour, while the state’s standard minimum wage is $5.15. For Steach, her earnings barely cover her living necessities, with the worker admitting to Fast Company, “I don’t eat.”

Despite companywide raises earlier this year, Steach remains determined to push for broader change.

“Corporations can’t keep throwing us around,” she said. “We’re here. We’re worth it.”

Waffle House has not responded publicly to the complaint.