How often do you go back and forth over how much to tip at the end of a meal? Depending on the state, in the U.S. that choice could be the difference between a livable income or financial mayhem for the workers who served and prepared your meal. But why do consumers have such power–and why are labor wages so tied to ti

In most states, tipped workers are not subject to the minimum wage. Why? Because it’s legal to pay tipped workers a subminimum wage as low as the federal minimum of $2.13 per hour. As long as any worker in the country can be paid less than the minimum wage, the minimum wage is meaningless. Saru Jayaraman, a leader in t

Do you know the minimum wage in your state? Saru Jayaraman does. As co-founder and president of One Fair Wage and director of the Food Labor Research Center at UC Berkeley, Saru and her team are fighting in support of the Raise the Wage Act, which would increase the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour and get rid of t

Alex Wagner, Emily Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani, and Saru Jayaraman join for the fourth Back in the Closet episode. Plus we attempt a live audience with our friends in Seattle and Spokane (huge success!), and listeners share their weird new self-care rituals. Bag two of Hershey's nuggets: done. Learn more about your ad c

A bunch of corruption and collusion stories break and it’s very bad for the crime gang! Trump calls people animals and we debate how nuanced it was. The Peace Prize hits a snag on the Korean peninsula. And yes there’s a royal wedding but we stopped caring about that AT YORKTOWN IN 1781. Anyway, great show. Paul Scheer