WRA has heard that restaurants in Wisconsin have been of specific interest by the Department of Labor for Wage & Hour Audits to ensure labor law compliance.
Do you know all the labor laws that businesses must follow - including the laws specifically relating to employment of teens? Are all of your managers following these laws? This is a good time to double check to avoid the serious consequences of labor law violations. WRA consulted with Attorney Barry Chaet who routinely represents restaurants in wage and hour audits to provide practical guidelines for restaurants. This is a must read for all restaurant operators! Department of Labor Audits Guide to laws and regulations for restaurant owners from attorney Barry Chaet
Other Resources From WRA Teen Labor Basics Laws and Regulations Info for WRA Members - You will need your member login to access this information – Email Christina Nistler for assistance Questions? The AskWRA Team is here to help! Call 608.270.9950 or email [email protected]
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The payment card settlement sets aside at least $5.54B for millions of US merchants who for years paid artificially inflated interchange fees.
If your restaurant accepted Visa and Mastercard between Jan. 1, 2004 and Jan. 25, 2019, then you could be entitled to a share of the settlement. Visit the official class action website to submit a claim. You don't need to gather your credit card records to submit a claim, you just need to provide proof of business ownership. Once you submit your claim, processing can take several weeks. The deadline for submitting a claim has been extended to August 30, 2024. You don't need to have the claim processed by August 30, just submitted. Check out WRA's flyer for more details on the settlement and filing a claim. The storm last night in Southern Wisconsin caught a lot of people by surprise. Was your business impacted? Is your business prepared for natural disasters? Even a severe storm that causes your business to shut down for a period of time can have an impact. Here are some helpful resources on what to do when disaster strikes - large or small - and what you can do to be prepared.
Insurance Coverage If the recent storm affected your business, make sure you check in with your insurance provider. Even if there wasn’t physical damage, your business may qualify for business interruption coverage. Property Damage If your business suffered some damage, check out this information that WRA created for our members on handling property damage. Be Prepared You hope it never happens to your restaurant, but it’s important to be prepared if disaster strikes. Pre-planning and a good blueprint for what to do if a disaster strikes can have a big impact on the safety of your employees and guests and the ability of your business to recover quickly. The National Restaurant Association provides helpful restaurant-specific disaster preparedness guides. Also Ready.gov has a helpful Severe Wind & Tornado Toolkit. Questions? Email or call the AskWRA Team at 608.270.9950 Is Your Business in Surcharge Compliance?![]() Mastercard and Visa are cracking down on merchants who are not following surcharge rules. A Wisconsin restaurant recently was hit with a $25,000 fine from Visa for non-compliance with surcharge rules! Do you know what is allowed and what can get you in trouble? WRA has all the facts to help you stay compliant. Over the last few years, as food, labor and property costs have increased, the trend of surcharging has emerged to help offset the cost of accepting credit cards. But what some merchants don’t know is that there are specific rules regarding surcharges that need to be followed. And there are serious consequences for not following them. Here are the facts
What happens if your business is found to be in violation of the surcharge rules? If you receive a notice of a violation of the card brand surcharge rules, you will not be able to address the fines with the card brand (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) directly. You are required to work with your credit card processor. Merchants do not have a direct relationship with the card brands so Visa, Mastercard, etc. would not be able to help you directly. The violations flow from the card brand to the sponsor bank, the sponsor bank to the processor, and finally from the processor to the merchant. Here’s an example of Visa’s process: If your business violated surcharging rules, then, unfortunately, $25K is the first-tier fine for surcharge non-compliance. Visa may charge the sponsor bank an initial $1K for a first-time offense notification and it is up to the bank and processor if they pass that to the merchant (likewise if there are additional fines like the $25K). Within that notification they allow 30 days to rectify the non-compliance. If non-compliance is not mitigated within that timeframe, or if additional time is not requested, then Visa will assess the $25K non-compliance assessment. If non-compliance continues, then it will reach a second tier assessment, and so on. Click here for all the facts on surcharges, convenience fees and cash discounts to help you stay compliant and avoid huge fines. Thank you to Heartland for providing this information. |
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