warning to teens looking for part-time valet job

A few months ago, my son who is 16 at Bishop Chatard took a job with a company called Vision Valet out of Carmel. They provide valet services to many northside and downtown restaurants so the thought of parking exotic cars and being paid for it is a dream job, right?

Wrong.

When my son went for his training one evening at Eddie Merlots, he was told that all the tips received on his shift was to be put into the jar and at the end of the night, all the valet workers would split the pot based on their hours worked. That sounded pretty fair. To further incent them, the company promised $8.00 an hour as a minimum, so if they received less than the equivalent of $8.00 per hour in tips, the company would pay them the difference. This all sounded pretty straight forward.

Then, they explained that they provide valet services at the Keystone Mall where they rarely make enough in tips to meet the $8.00/hour minimum. My son seemed okay with this, after all, everyone had to rotate through the higher paying places like Fleming’s and Eddie Merlot’s.

My son informed the company that he was able to work no more than 2-3 days per week after school. He was quickly working just about every day of the week, including every Friday and Saturday evening where he would sometimes pull a double shift (11:00 am until 11:00 pm or so).  When he would ask his supervisor (if you want to call him that) to not schedule him for so many days in a row, he would tell him “you better work tonight or you won’t have a job.”

My son finally had enough, and we had enough of him working every evening during school hours. Vision Valet doesn’t seem to understand or know the teenage labor laws in Indiana that (IC 20-33-3-23):

• limit the number of hours a teenager between 16 and 17 years of age can work (8 hours maximum)
• does not allow children from 16 to 18 years of age to work past 10:00 pm on weekdays/school nights
• limits the total number of hours during a week to no more than 40 hours without consent

To add insult to injury, Vision Valet has NEVER paid my son for any of those Keystone Mall days nor some of the days where he worked his shift and the moneys were split up after he left. It has been over 6 weeks since he has left there, after giving them proper notice, and they still haven’t paid him.

My wife sent an email to the owner, David Holman, as well as other parents that we know in this same situation. He responded to one family friend with an email that said simply “threatening me will get you nowhere.” How frustrating.

I am writing this as a warning to all you parents that have teen age sons (or daughters) that are thinking of a valet job with Vision Valet. If you have been scammed by this company as well, please contact me and join the list. Three of us are hiring a lawyer to pursue this, I’m also in contact with the Department of Labor for the State of Indiana and the Better Business Bureau.