A woman was shocked after looking at her restaurant receipt and discovering that she'd been charged for "employee health".
In a video posted on TikTok, Ashley Nicole - who goes by the handle @ashnichole_xo - highlighted to her followers the additional fee she got on her bill after she and her friend went out to dinner.
"The weirdest thing just happened to me. It’s cold and it’s rainy in LA, so me and my bestie decided to go out to dinner. We go to one of my favorite restaurants," she began.
She explained that the restaurant was an Italian diner in Los Angeles called Osteria La Buca in Los Angeles that she had been to "multiple times" in the past.
Watch Ashley's TikTok below:
"We enjoy our meal, we get the check, we pay for our check, and as we were signing the tip and stuff, we notice something," she continued, sharing a picture of the total bill on her receipt.
A first glance, the bill doesn’t look out of the ordinary as there are some mouth-watering crispy potatoes and short rib ravioli. However, when you take a closer look under the $42 New York steak, there's a five percent charge for "Employee Health".
The TikToker was baffled by the extra charge so she decided to ask the restaurant employee about it and it's exactly what it says on the paper.
"I'm like 'Hey, quick question, I saw that you guys charged us $5 each for employee health, and I just had to ask what is that?'", she asked the hostess, emphasizing that the fee had been individual and not for their entire table.
The worker answered that the payment was for the staff health care which left the woman astonished, saying that she'd "never heard of that before," and questioned if such a thing was normal at restaurants.
"Is that normal? Have I been living under a rock and this is a normal thing, or is this weird? Because I’ve never experienced this before and it feels weird, but maybe this is normal elsewhere," she inquired. "Let me know 'cause I’ve never seen this before."
As of the time of writing, the video amassed over one million views and 96K likes on the social media platform, with many commenters sharing their opinions on the additional fee.
Some people expressed that they wouldn't have paid for it, with one user writing: "I’m sorry but I’m not paying for this. Just tax and tip. Health care should be [covered] by [the] employer. These fees are getting out of hand."
Another interjected: "If I’m paying for their healthcare, I’m not leaving a tip! That would be like tipping my child for a service! If I’m paying [for] your healthcare we family!"
A third chimed in: "well...that would come off the tip...can barely afford health care for myself, not paying for some strangers health care."
Other people pointed out that employers should be the ones paying for their workers, with one user remarking: "Not normal! Shouldn’t the business be paying for the employee health care, not the customer?!"
A second person added: "Sounds like the employer of that restaurant is ripping ppl off. They are for sure making more money [than] the health care is costing them."
Lastly, one more user commented: "So they don’t pay them a living wage and also don’t provide health insurance? There is no other industry that gets away with this bs."
According to the New York Times, surcharges similar to what was seen on the TikToker's receipt began emerging around 2008. It started after voters in San Francisco backed a law demanding businesses with more than 20 employees to set aside budgets for health care.
In addition to this, the Affordable Care Act - which went into effect in 2010 - mandates employers with 50 or more full-time workers to propose health benefits.
However, many restaurants only introduced extra payment on bills to cover the cost of health insurance for their employees, rather than providing it themselves, per the Los Angeles Times.
