According to a report from Fast Company, Waffle House saves anywhere from $15.6 million to $46.8 million annually by not appropriately paying its employees for responsibilities performed on and off the clock. Those responsibilities include mopping floors, cleaning toilets and cleaning dishware. They’re paid according to their states’ tipped wage base pay, meaning they receive a flat hourly rate that doesn’t factor in assigned duties completed during one’s shift.

With tipped wages being lower than the standard minimum wage, the Union of Southern Service Workers filed a lawsuit with the U.S. Department of Labor on behalf of Waffle House employees. The suit alleges that the amount of time spent on untipped tasks amounted to wage theft. Additionally, the complaint disputes a mandatory $3.15 meal deduction per shift even when servers chose not to eat at Waffle House.

This legal action came nearly two years after the organization challenged executive leadership to improve work conditions for employees. Walkouts supported by the Union of Southern Service Workers (a cross-sector affiliate of the Service Employees International Union) led the charge that pushed Waffle House CEO Joe Rogers III offered pay bumps for all employees, as well as upping the tipped wage minimum to $3, which didn’t help all staff depending on where they reside.

Between 2021 and 2024, the Department of Labor was able to redeem over $1 billion in back wages and damages for 615,000 Waffle House workers nationwide.

“Wage theft can happen to anyone. It’s any time a worker is not paid the money for the labor that they do,” Margaret Poydock, the Economic Policy Institute’s senior policy analyst, said in an interview with Fast Company.

According to a 2024 report by the Strategic Organizing Center, a labor union coalition, wage theft is a significant issue for Waffle House employees. Among 488 surveyed workers, a whopping 90% reported experiencing some form of wage theft in the past year, with three-quarters stating they were required to complete tasks either before their shifts began or after they ended. The survey was voluntary, with participants responding to a social media call.

The lawsuit is awaiting a decision from the Department of Labor, but Melissa “Kat” Steach, a Waffle House server in Marietta, Georgia, says she and other crew member deserve much better going forward.

“Corporations can’t keep throwing us around because we make all this money for them,” Steach told Fast Company. “And what are they really doing with it? They are not supporting their workers. They can’t keep screwing us around. We’re here. We’re worth it.”