Workers at restaurants owned by Darden are not paid by cash or check, like most of us. Instead, they are given prepaid debit cards. A quarter of workers who were surveyed by the Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) said they had repeatedly asked to be paid some other way and were told the debit cards are their only option.
Darden, you see, is trying to cut costs anywhere it can because the company is struggling financially, but their use of debit cards places a very expensive and unnecessary barrier between workers and the money they have earned through their labor. How so? Well, the cards come with a variety of fees for usage: 99 cents for using it to pay a utility bill, 50 cents if the card is ever declined at a cash register, $1.75 to withdraw money from an out-of-network ATM, and 75 cents just to check the card's balance. And if a worker happens to lose the card, he or she will be forced to pay $10 to have it replaced.
Comment: Classic corporate psychopathy. Only the bottom line matters.