If a boss tells you minimum wage is “discretionary,” it might be time to show them what the law actually says.

What would you do if you turned 18 and your employer refused to raise your pay, claiming they simply didn’t have to?

Would you stay quiet to keep your job?

Or would you walk away and let the government sort it out?

In the following story, one cafe employee deals with this exact scenario and decides to find a new job.

Here’s what happened.

Minimum wage is discretionary

My first part-time job was in a cafe, starting when I was 16.

As jobs go, it was pretty good. It was minimum wage, of course, but the owner was flexible with schedules, we got discounted food, and my coworkers were generally lovely people.

The only issue I had occurred when I turned 18.

In my country (the UK), the minimum wage is set at one level for 16-17-year-olds but rises by around 30% for 18+.

We’d always been paid cash in hand weekly, so I knew things were not exactly kosher, but when my first pay envelope came after my 18th birthday, I was still surprised not to see my pay bump.

The boss refused to pay him any additional wages.

Thinking it was just an oversight, I informed the owner that I hadn’t received my pay increase, but they waved their hand and said, “Oh no, minimum wage is discretionary” in a matter-of-fact way.

I laughed at this and they acted like I was naive and said, “Trust me, it is. I can’t pay you any more, but you’re free to try your luck elsewhere.”

So that’s exactly what I did.

My colleague, who had also just turned 18, and I found a new place within a few weeks, paying more than double our current wage.

Frustrated, he turned the boss’s words around.

The only issue was that I was asked to start with only a few days’ notice on a weekend I was scheduled to work.

I called the owner to let them know I had found a new role and could work my other shifts, but not on weekends.

They told me my notice period was two weeks, to which I responded, “Oh no, my notice period is discretionary.”

They didn’t like that and told me not to bother coming back.

Not long after, he received a check for his unpaid wages.

That was the last I heard of them until a few months later, when I received a letter informing me that the government was investigating them on my behalf for unpaid wages.

It turns out a colleague I had enlightened about minimum wage, of course, not being discretionary, had also left and contacted HMRC.

A couple of weeks later, I received my cheque from the owner in the post, and I found out that within a few months, the cafe had to close and let its staff go because of unpaid taxes.

All because they didn’t want to pay us £4.83 per hour.

Wow! That ended pretty well for him.

Let’s check out how the folks over at Reddit relate to this story.

This person sees no benefit to giving notice.

As this person points out, there are reasons companies pay employees in cash.

So true.

For this person, paying in cash was the first red flag.

Karma caught him quickly!

It’s so funny that this person got his unpaid wages and didn’t even have to be the one to turn the cafe owner in.

Thought that was satisfying? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were traveling for business.