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After a story is published, minimum-wage worker loses her job

 
Published April 1, 2015

Shanna Tippen was another hourly worker at the bottom of the nation's economy, looking forward to a 25-cent bump in the Arkansas minimum wage that would make it easier for her to buy diapers for her grandson. When I wrote about her in the Washington Post a month ago, she said the minimum-wage hike would bring her a bit of financial relief, but it wouldn't lift her above the poverty line.

She called me the other day to say she didn't get to enjoy the 25-cent hike for long. After the story came out, she says she was fired from her job for talking to me.

I spend a lot of time writing about people at the low end of the economy, and I see up close how narrowly they get by, day to day. In this case, writing about Tippen's plight may have made her situation worse.

Tippen says she was fired by her boss, Herry Patel, manager of a Days Inn. Earlier that day, Patel had called the Post to express frustration that he had been quoted giving his opinion about the minimum-wage hike. (He objected to it.) It was soon after, Tippen says, that Patel found her in the lobby and fired her.

"He said I was stupid and dumb for talking to (the Post)," Tippen said. "He cussed me and asked me why you wrote the article. I said, 'Because he's a reporter; that's what he does.' He said, 'It was wrong for me to talk to you.' "

Tippen was uncertain whether she wanted to publicly share the story of her firing, but she decided to because she feels increasingly desperate. She lived paycheck-to-paycheck during her two years at the Days Inn. Now she says she and her family are living off a tax refund check that won't last much longer. Tippen says she's looking for another job but hasn't found one yet.

"As of now, I'm looking for any kind of job at all," she said. "Flipping burgers. Cleaning. Anything. It doesn't matter."

Patel introduced Tippen to me. During a trip to Pine Bluff, Ark., in mid January, I went to numerous businesses across town and found Patel in the hotel lobby and introduced myself. There, I interviewed him for several minutes. Patel then suggested I speak with Tippen, who was cleaning up the continental breakfast bar. I interviewed her during her work shift, on a slow afternoon as she manned the front desk.

Several days later, after I'd spent additional time with Tippen, Patel called me and threatened to sue if an article was published. Tippen, though, felt it was important to tell her story; she said many people shared her experience earning the minimum. Also, she had nothing negative to say about her employer. — Washington Post