In Oregon right now, and you probably need to get a better lawyer. People often claim something is legal as a tactic. Then after a court finds them guilty, they offer to pay you to shut up before the court can assess damages. And then the business can claim it was legal and the process repeats itself over and over again.

It is a scam and a con by the employer. And sice they are trying to get value from you with deliberate lies it's actually fraud. And since different levels of management talk about it, it is criminal conspiracy. The courts could run all day every day doing nothing but convicting employers again and again. Just because some people have better things to do sometimes doesn't mean that the people that get away with it aren't criminals.

If your employer suffers you to work (and being able to answer a phone, being awake, all that) then they have to pay you. If you want to get paid just work. If your employer doesn't like it they can fire you. But they'd still have to pay you for the work up to that point.

If you are a teacher, a penny per trillion years might be your wage, but you still have to get paid.

And if you aren't a teacher there are straight up minimum wages and minimum salaries. And in Oregon servers get minimum wage unless they also teach. Wage plus tips, not tips instead of wages.

Plus ou are paid for time for any commute above and beyond your normal commute.

Plus come on, they seem to be in a different state where the customers of the place are the actual employers. Since the customers are the ones paying the servers and telling the servers what to do.

Yes, employment lawyers in Oregon seem to be really really bad. They can say something is legal all they want, it's only believable because we all get paid to keep our mouths shut when the courts agree that it is totally illegal.

If you aren't getting more money from your court settlements in Oregon than you get in your wages, well, you might be a chump.