Well, in many states a restaurant doesn't have to pay minimum wage as long as tips make up the difference. And it certainly is legal to charge restaurant employees for food (it's common to give a discount, and/or offer some items for free).
Granted, McDonald's employees aren't tipped, and unless somebody eats an incredible amount, their food bill won't cut into their paycheck all that much, so McDonald's isn't able to really lower its labor cost all that much. But you could see something similar to the hypothetical at a much classier restaurant.
But by law at the classier restaurant, they have to pay minimum wage.
If minimum wage is $8 an hour and the server has a base wage of $4 an hour.. by law, if they had no tips - they would need to be compensated to go up to minimum wage.
Yes, exactly my point. Therefore why should grad students be any different? Is there anything in the labor laws that specifically mentions scientific research and hamburgers and different rules for the two?
