California Restaurant's 4% Bill Surcharge To Cover Employee Health Care Has People Furious: 'Bulls--t'

Tired of the tip requests, surcharges, donations, inflation, etc. that are all the rage within the consumer world?

Then you need to be on high alert for the newest ways in which businesses are dumping charges on you when you might not be looking. Let's go to Los Angeles, California where one restaurant, Alimento, popped up on the radar this week when it was revealed the restaurant is adding a 4% surcharge to customer bills to cover "Health Insurance for Staff."

The thought of such charges on bills, even with the restaurant's disclaimer that the charge can be removed, has people who've been bombarded with tip requests furious over yet another charge.

"A 4% service charge is added to each check so we may offer our staff health insurance," the Alimento bill disclaimer reads. "Please notify your server if you would like this removed."

Uh, yeah, thanks for forcing the customer to tell the server to remove the charge. How courageous of Alimento's management.

Needless to say, the reaction to the 4% health care surcharge hasn't been positive for the restaurant.

"Things are getting so out of hand people might just stop eating out? Most businesses have to pay their own staff but restaurants seem to get away with having their customers pay," one person wrote on Twitter.

"Please notify your server if you would like this removed. As if anyone is going to do that. This shouldn't be legal," said another.

Some wonder if the money is even going to the workers. In 2013, 57 San Francisco restaurants were found to have cheated the surcharge program in that city.

"4% is the maximum you’re allowed to charge to cover your credit card processing costs but you’re not legally allowed to call it a surcharge for credit cards. Probably just a coincidence," wrote an angry restaurant analyst.

Now, if you think the health care surcharge is something, go up the Alimento bill and take a look at the "2 Water Donation" that clocks in at $3.

If you want to wet your whistle at this restaurant, you'll pay for that tap water. And the health care unless you take time out of your evening to tell the server to take it off, which requires another trip to the computer.

If it feels like restaurants -- and Starbucks drive-thru with its tip requests on the credit card machine -- are playing fast and loose with the point-of-sale machine, you're not the only one noticing.

Take a look at the service charge for two customers a diner faced at Las Vegas restaurant Prime 141.

"A TBD% service charge will be added to your bill that goes towards livable wages, paid time off, and benefits for our entire team," Prime 141 declares on its website.

Before you go and think this is some sort of Vegas and California thing, back in 2019, an Austin, Texas restaurant was adding a surcharge to customer bills to cover healthcare.

The lesson: You better have your head on a swivel and you better be looking at every line of those restaurant bills to figure out if there are shenanigans going on.

You've been warned.