GASTONIA, N.C. — Some people are upset with a local Chick-fil-A after it advertised it was hiring but the pay rate listed for high school students was lower than for those who were out of high school.
The Chick-fil-A on Cox Road in Gastonia posted on its Facebook page that high school students hired to work part time would be paid $11 per hour and students hired to work full time would make $13 per hour.
Workers “out of high school” would be paid $13 per hour for part-time positions and $15 per hour for full-time positions.
One of the page’s followers commented, “How are those wages even fair?”
Another wrote, “If they are doing the same job with the same expectations, they should have the same pay.”
“If a teenager, if he’s able to do the work and stuff just as an adult would, then he should receive equal pay …. Equal work, equal pay,” said customer Van Rucker.
But others disagree.
“People out of high school have more time. I think it’s fair,” high school student Kylie Broome said.
“They have more time and more responsibility so the pay should be higher for out of high school,” Broome’s mother Deanna added.
“I think it’s OK if the kids have finished school, that’s an achievement, and paying them a little more, I don’t have a problem with that,” another customer, Eddie Harrison, shared.
Action 9′s Jason Stoogenke spoke with a Charlotte labor lawyer and the North Carolina Department of Labor. Both said that legally it is OK to pay the students less.
More specifically, between the two of them, they said an employer can pay an employee as it sees fit as long as:
1) It pays the employee the amount that was agreed upon.
2) It doesn’t violate the employee’s civil rights.
In other words, your boss can’t pay you differently because of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, a disability, or age. But the law says you can’t discriminate against people who are 40 or older. It does not cover people younger than 40.
Stoogenke emailed the Chick-fil-A’s media team and the Cox Road location to see if they wanted to talk about the ad. Neither responded in time for this report.
If you feel your employer is discriminating, file a complaint with federal and/or state labor agencies.
Here are the links:
North Carolina Department of Labor
South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation
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