In early summer 2022, Riley DeHority got a part-time job at Bookholders, a textbook reseller with a storefront on the edge of Virginia Tech’s campus in Blacksburg.
DeHority was working on their doctorate in biosystems engineering and had a summer job in a lab but wanted to earn extra money to pay for some car repairs.
Soon after accepting the job offer there, DeHority discovered that the pay was below Virginia’s minimum wage. Their hourly rate would be $9 an hour and increase to $9.75 after a two-week training period…