Tipped F&B workers more harassed: study

Washington

AFTER nine years working as a waitress, mostly in suburban Memphis, Tennessee, Catherine Bryant knows how to deal with lascivious customers. She'd evade them and seek to serve better-behaved customers.

But working at establishments that can attract rowdy customers with big drinks and flashy happy hours, she always had something else on her mind: tips. In Tennessee, as in 20 other states, restaurant workers can receive as little as US$2.13 an hour, far below the minimum wage, with the rest expected to be made up through gratuities.