Waffle House is being criticized for mandatory deductions from employees' salaries for their meals.

The union representing workers at the Waffle House restaurant chain filed a petition with the U.S. Department of Labor on Monday, requesting an investigation into the company's policy of deducting mandatory meal costs from employees' wages. According to the petition from the Southern Service Workers Union, Waffle House deducts at least $3 for each shift worked for meals, regardless of whether employees consume them or not. This policy raises particular concern, as many workers earn minimum wage with tips of $2.90 an hour or even less.

According to the union, three restaurant workers in Georgia refused to work on Monday in protest against this policy, declaring a one-day strike. The group states that many employees do not have the time or desire to eat from the Waffle House menu every shift and often work instead of taking breaks during their free time.

“Waffle House deducts from its employees' salaries for meals that are ultimately sold to customers at retail prices,” the petition states.Waffle House did not respond to the request for a comment.

In general, employers are allowed to deduct meal expenses from employees' salaries, but the food must be provided "at cost" and should not generate profit for the company. A deduction of $3 will be lower than the retail price of Waffle House, but it will be too high if the food is not consumed. The union has asked the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division to determine the "actual cost" of meals and to check whether Waffle House is overpaying its employees.

One of the Waffle House employees, Cindy Smith, told HuffPost that she usually doesn't eat the meals provided.

“Why am I paying for food that I don’t eat?” asked Smith, a 50-year-old worker who has previously protested this policy publicly. “Waffle House is already making enough money off us.”

According to Waffle House rules, employees are supposed to receive an uninterrupted meal break during their shifts, and those who do not receive this break should be paid for the time spent eating before or after work. However, the union claims that "almost no Waffle House employee" they spoke to received pay for meal time if they continued to work during the break. Two employees mentioned in the union's petition stated that they have to prepare their own meals.

Waffle House was founded in 1955 and has around 2,000 restaurants and 40,000 employees in the United States, primarily in the southern states and the central part of the country.