Mandatory health insurance for employees

05/02/2008 English German

Edition # 74
San Francisco, 05-02-2008

Caught By a Red Light Camera American housing market in crisis Amerikanische Duschen" translates to "American showers" in Mandatory health insurance for employees The title "Parken am Rande des Wahnsinns" translates to "Parking Election campaign and no end in sight Die without inheritance tax in the year 2010 Easter in Dolores Park: Hunky Jesus

Mandatory health insurance for employees

Figure [1]: A crook restaurant simply adds an

imaginary tax.>

Michael Recently, we had lunch at the restaurant "MoMo's" in San Francisco's Soma District and, to our surprise, found a note in small print at the bottom of the menu: According to this, the place simply adds 3.5% to every bill without asking, a so-called "San Francisco Health Care Security Ordinance Service Charge" (Figure 1).

In fact, there has been a law in San Francisco since January 8, 2008, that... Thetranslation of "Health Care Security Ordinance (HCSO)" to English isalready provided, as it is originally in English. Translate to English: "which requires employers to provide health insurance for their employees if the establishment employs more than 20 people. Naturally, this doesn't sit well with the restaurants, and they have not only filed a lawsuit against the city but also seem to be ripping off unsuspecting guests. The waiter working at the restaurant in question only knew that it was a 'New San Francisco Thing' and that he hadn't seen any of the money yet.

There is certainly nothing wrong with health insurance for employees, but there is an objection to surreptitiously adding this amount to the bill. In that case, the restaurant should simply raise the prices on the menu! However, it seems that some prefer to lead their guests by the nose instead.

Figure [2]: The amount is listed separately on the

invoice.>

And a few days later at the "Incanto" restaurant in our neighborhood, we noticed a "Service Charge" of 5%, supposedly to cover the tip for the kitchen staff. In theory, as a guest, you could deduct this amount from the waiter's tip, but who really does that? The waiter isn't responsible for the greedy management's schemes. The only solution is to boycott these places for the time being; if the guests stay away, maybe they'll get the message.

Let's face the facts: On a $50 bill, not only do you have an 8.5% sales tax (which is $4.25) and an additional 15-20% tip for the waiter on the total amount ($8.14 - $10.85), but also a new restaurant fantasy tax of 3-5% ($1.50 - $2.50)? So, the $50 on the menu becomes $67.60? Where are you going, San Francisco?