Quick-service pay isn’t a tip-credit problem, it’s a wage-floor problem: counter and drive-thru crews earn a straight hourly wage that has to clear a different minimum at every store. WageTime processes the floor per store, across every EIN in the group.
None of these is a tip question. They’re the standing conditions of running counter-service crews at the wage floor, and each one is either a manager’s second job or a penalty that now lands per violation.
QSR crews sit right at the floor, and the floor is federal, state, local, and in California a fast-food-only $20 an hour for chains with 60 or more locations. Run four stores across three localities and each one has its own number to clear on every single check.
14- and 15-year-olds can’t work past 7pm on a school night or more than 3 hours that day, and cooking and slicers are off-limits under 16. The DOL now assesses child-labor penalties per violation, not per employee, and fast-food franchisees have been fined into six figures for minors on the wrong machine at the wrong hour.
New York City’s law applies specifically to fast-food chains: post schedules 14 days out, pay a premium when you change them late, no clopenings without written consent plus a $100 premium, and offer open shifts to your crew before you hire. A dropped shift now carries a price.
At quick-service turnover the average position turns over more than once a year: a W-4, an I-9, a direct-deposit form, and a first check that has to be right, for a hire who might be gone by fall. Every January, W-2s chase people who left in March.
Multi-unit franchisees hold each store in its own LLC and EIN, with labor percentage squeezed under royalties and food cost. Generic payroll answers with an account per store and a spreadsheet the bookkeeper keeps by hand to see the group.
Punches sit in Toast, Square, Aloha, or Brink; schedules sit in Homebase or 7shifts. Every cycle someone exports, reformats, and re-keys, and every handoff is another chance to short a paycheck.
Every check tests against the floor of the store that earned it: WageTime processes minimum wage at federal, state, and local levels, so four stores in three localities each clear their own number.
Replaces the spreadsheet of per-city wage rates the bookkeeper updates by hand, and the underpayment nobody catches until the store lands in a new city.
WageTime scheduling gives you guardrails, not a promise the law runs itself: conflict safeguards flag the clopening or late overnight before the schedule publishes, and the record behind it stays audit-ready.
| Crew | Safeguard | Flag |
|---|---|---|
| Devon K.Fri close, Sat open | Rest-period | 9 hrs under 11 |
| Aisha M.Wed 10pm-2am | Overnight-shift | Flagged |
| Marcus J.Sat 8am-2pm, 1pm-5pm | Double-booking | overlaps 1-2pm |
| Grace L.Sun 10am-4pm | none | Clear |
Replaces the printed schedule a manager eyeballs for problems, and the clopening nobody noticed until the crew member did.
A predictability premium is a flat-amount pay code in WageTime: it posts on the run with the right taxes, the same way night, weekend, and holiday differentials and on-call pay ride as codes.
| Employee | Code | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Mia T.schedule changed 6 days out | PREDICT-CHG | $45.00 |
| Devon K.consented close-to-open | CLOPEN | $100.00 |
| Aisha M.4 overnight hrs | NIGHT-DIFF | $12.00 |
| Priya S.Sat standby | ON-CALL | $30.00 |
Replaces the premium someone calculates on a sticky note, or forgets, and the fair-workweek complaint that follows.
Hiring and offboarding are the same weekly chore at 130% turnover, so WageTime runs both in one place: crew enter their details, sign tax forms, and clear the I-9 from a phone before a register shift.
| Person | Store | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Tariq H.New hire, first shift Fri | Riverside #12 | Self-onboarded |
| Bianca F.New hire, first shift Sat | Downtown #04 | Self-onboarded |
| Owen D.Rehire, summer crew | Airport #21 | Records kept |
| Sofia N.New hire, first shift Mon | Riverside #12 | Waiting on I-9 |
| Kyle M.New hire, first shift Mon | Eastgate #33 | Self-onboarded |
| Reggie T.Quit after Fri close | Downtown #04 | Off-cycle Mon |
| Dana P.End of season | Airport #21 | On Mar 13 run |
Replaces the new-hire clipboard by the fry station, the manager’s onboarding hour between rushes, and the “it’ll be on the next run” final check.
One login, many companies: each store keeps its own EIN, files its own returns with deposits, and reports per store or rolled up, so labor percentage per store is a WageTime report you pull, not a reconciliation you build.
| Store | Labor % | Filings |
|---|---|---|
| Downtown #04 LLCEIN ••-•••4021 · 38 paid | 27.4% | Filed |
| Riverside #12 LLCEIN ••-•••7788 · 41 paid | 29.1% | Filed |
| Airport #21 LLCEIN ••-•••3390 · 29 paid | 31.8% runs hot | Filed |
| Eastgate #33 LLCEIN ••-•••1265 · 24 paid | 26.9% | Filed |
Replaces a payroll account per store, four sets of year-end chaos, and the labor-percentage spreadsheet nobody trusts.
Full-service payroll is $10 a month per person paid that month, plus $50 a month per company, with unlimited runs. No long-term contracts, no per-run charges.
Off-cycle runs and bonuses cost nothing extra. No long-term contracts; cancel anytime.
Example: 50 people paid × $10 + $50 company = $550 for the month
HR & hiring, onboarding, PTO, time tracking, benefits, and workers’ comp are optional add-ons, priced separately when you’re ready.
See a demoYes. Fast-food crews are paid a straight hourly wage, so no tip credit is taken, and WageTime processes those wages against the applicable minimum-wage floor. If a location runs a counter tip screen, tip earning codes carry those tips into the run and onto the W-2; because you take no tip credit, they ride on top of the full hourly wage. Bring one pay period to the demo.
When someone works two rates in one week (crew one shift, shift lead the next) WageTime computes overtime on the weighted-average regular rate automatically. Crew who split time across two separate store EINs raise a joint-employment question that depends on your structure, so bring how your stores are set up to the demo and we’ll confirm how the hours total.
WageTime gives you the guardrails: scheduling conflict safeguards flag rest-period gaps, overnight shifts, and double-bookings before a schedule is published, and break and meal rules live in the timesheets. The federal hour caps for 14- and 15-year-olds (3 hours on a school day, nothing after 7pm) stay yours to apply. WageTime does not provide legal advice.
Yes. A schedule-change or predictability premium is a flat-amount pay code, the same as a night differential or on-call pay, so it posts on the run with the right taxes. You set when it is owed (a change inside 14 days, or a clopening), and WageTime carries the amount onto the check.
One login covers four companies. Each store is its own EIN, files its own returns, and keeps its own books, and you pull results per store or for the group at once. Labor cost lands by store, so a hot location shows up well before month-end. Store five is a new company in the same login, not a new payroll vendor.
$50 per month per company plus $10 per month per person paid that month, no long-term contracts. The four-store group in the screens, 132 people paid, comes to $1,520 for the month: $200 in company bases plus $1,320 in per-person fees. Runs are unlimited, so off-cycle final checks and bonuses cost nothing extra. Switching is full-service and paid; we’ll scope it on the demo.
Last week’s schedule, the two crew who quit after Friday close, and the store that sits in a $20 fast-food-wage city. Twenty minutes with a payroll specialist on a live demo store: you’ll watch a hire self-onboard, a wage-floor flag clear, and a final check run off-cycle.
Book a 20-minute demo