Ok,, so I’m in a restaurant on Friday. It’s in a neighborhood known for its high percentage of Hispanic residents. As I’m paying the bill, I noticed a couple of tables taped behind the register. Being the nosy individual that I am I read the not so small print. I see that they pay the busboys $1.50 an hour Mondays through Thursday and $1.75 an hour Friday through Sunday; and the schedule show the amounts owed per hours. So the advanced math is correct.
Since these rates are way below the legal level for Illinois tip based employees my mind immediately goes to the fact that the bus staff are illegals and that they will to get paid cash on a daily basis at the above stated rates. Being a restaurant having cash is all to easy a thing to have on hand.
Now this restaurant has many issues. They are not reporting all of their sales. They have illegals as off the book employees. A guess would be that tips are also under reported. So 941’s, FUTA, SUTA and the corporate returns would all be fraudulent.
Now I can not be the first to be able to see this. Also all of my evidence is circumstantial. But, I am sure that I would win any bet on these issues. I could probably prove most if not all of that by an audit of their records.
I doubt anyone actual wants to go after them or they would have been found. But, I always get the feeling that if I were to try any of this the full force of the system would come down upon me.