Sarumathi "Saru" Jayaraman is an American attorney, author, and activist from Los Angeles, California. She is an advocate for fair wages for restaurant workers and other service workers in the United States.
In the aftermath of September 11, she co-founded the non-profit public service organization Restaurant Opportunities Centers United. And in 2013 she founded a new organization to work on these issues, called One Fair Wage. Jayaraman is a recipient of the Ashoka fellowship in 2013 and the Soros Equality Fellowship in 2020.
Saru Jayaraman has written four books. The New Urban Immigrant Workforce, released in 2005, is about modern methods of labor organizing. It draws on first-hand accounts and ethnographies from workers in New York. Behind the Kitchen Door: The People Who Make and Serve Your Food was written in 2013. The book is about sexism, racism, and worker abuse in restaurants. Forked: A New Standard for American Dining was published in 2016. The book investigates the employment practices of a wide range of restaurants, from fine dining establishments to fast-food chains. Jayaraman's forthcoming book, One Fair Wage: Ending Subminimum Pay in America will be published by The New Press in the Fall of 2021
Jayaraman is a frequent guest on television programs including on PBS, CNN, MSNBC, and HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher. Jayaraman has also published numerous journal articles and technical reports.
