How to Be a Conscious Eater

exempts employers from having to provide benefits), and unre-

liable scheduling that makes it difficult to line up child care,

schedule additional part-time work, or take classes.

As of this printing, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an

hour. Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have

instituted higher minimum wages than that, and dozens of

local municipalities have gone well beyond both state and

federal thresholds. San Francisco became the first US city to

achieve the $15 minimum wage across the board, and Seattle’s

increased minimum wage will be in place by 2021. New York

State has been phasing in a $15 minimum wage across the state,

though it excludes tipped food-service workers. If you live in a

place where regulation has mostly taken care of the issue of

ensuring a fair, livable wage for restaurant workers, that sim-

plifies things for you. If not, some restaurants have proactively

upped their pay, and you can find the ones in your area by

downloading the ROC National Diners’ Guide, an app for your

phone that lists restaurants considered “High Road” establish-

ments. The criteria for that designation are employers offering

higher wages—which should vary based on their role as tipped

or untipped workers—as well as benefits like paid sick days

(so sick workers stay home rather than spreading their germs

to customers), work environments free of sexual harassment,

and equitable opportunities to move up the ladder.

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