is survey legal?

[Sw3tflower]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?Calif
Is this illegal?
A middle class, well known restraurant chain is taking a survey. On each customer's receipt it asks if they would log-on to the restaurant's site and take a short survey.
The survey includes questions about service, food and personal questions.
The waitresses have been told by the manager they must recieve at least 4 survey's/week from customers who say they had great service (or the waitress was great...something positive along those lines) or the waitress will not be given 'good' tables, will not be scheduled for the 'good' shifts or will not be able to work as many shifts as requested.
There is no mention of cooks, busboys, bar tenders...or even the manager, and the survey does not seem to have an impact on their jobs...just the waitresses.
Waitressing is not steady. Sometimes it is slow and they have 2 tables the entire day...sometimes they have a birthday party of 15 kids that takes up their entire shift...and maybe the customers they had that day did not bother to look at their receipt, threw it away, and never noticed the request for a survey (much less they must specifically mention good service by their waitress or she might lose her job)
A person's ability to earn a living is at stake because of this survey.
Thank youWhat is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[CraigFL]

I'm not sure why you feel expecting good service from employees and measuring it so everyone know the rules is bad. Without quality service neither you or your employer will be able to stay in business and get paid. You should feel more safe at this job because conforming to the rules is easy -- just provide outstanding service. Rather than being concerned about failue, concentrate on success...

 

[eerelations]

Surveys like this are perfectly legal.

 

[las365]

I think it is idiotic to measure the performance of your waitstaff based on whether they can convince customers to do an online survey after they leave the restaurant. Maybe if they handed out Blackberrys to the tables or something... but I agree, it probably isn't illegal, unless one could prove some type of gender discrimination, which would be a long shot, to be sure.

Back in the day, I worked with many a resourceful server who might have figured out that one could write down the receipt numbers (or whatever individual login code there is on the receipts, if any) and log on as a customer to sing her own praises. Not that I would ever suggest doing such a thing.

 

[Sw3tflower]

survey

las...surely you jest....
Craig.....in no way was I implying substandard or only fair service is acceptable from an employee.
However, I believe there are better, more reliable ways to determine how an employee is doing, rather then relying on a survey sent out with the recept.
Many people do not like to take surveys. Some people do not look at or save their recept. Some get tossed in the garbage...and who knows if another employee with a grudge happens to pick it up and take the survey, criticizing the waitress. Perhaps the customer does not own a computer, or does not want to waste their time taking the survey.
Also, 4/week is a lot when, as I suggested, the waitress had 1 big children's party her entire shift, and the next day was very slow. Plus she might only have 4 shifts/week.
I do not think it is a fair way to determine how a waitress is doing. Certainly not fair to punish her by giving her less work or lousy shifts.

 

[cbg]

It may or may not be fair. It is not illegal.