<human>: Hey reddit. Kind of a legal question, but kind of a moral question as well.
After getting suspicious of some of payment habits of the owner of the Sandwich Shop that I work at, I decided to check what the law was about minimum wage here in rural Minnesota. As I understand it, state law holds minimum 6.15$/hr for large businesses and then lesser amounts for tipped employees and smaller business. Federal law however, is 7.25$/hr with exceptions for tipped employees as well. I currently make 6.15$/hr and I doubt that the high ranking franchise that I am working for counts as a tipped business. I asked my manager about this and he said that he doesn't think its legal either, but many of the other area business pay that same wage. Of course I could use the extra money, but the town isn't exactly booming and I'm worried that some of the area businesses probably couldn't handle any more expenses right now. If they closed then I and other employees are in a worse position than before. Is there a third and better option?

My research: [](
[](

Can you give me a shortened version of the text?
<bot>: Small town has tradition of violating federal minimum wage law. Report them and risk killing jobs and business or just accept things as they are?