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My girlfriend works at a coffee shack/shop with a mother/daughter combo that are the owner/manager respectively, and they are awful people who take advantage of their employees and berate them for every little mistake. These are some examples: -They call meetings twice a year and don't pay their employees for the time spent at the meeting. They have to drive to the owners house. -the owner (lets call her Denise) works with the girls at the shack and takes HALF their tips, which I'm pretty sure is illegal. Denise is a really bad worker and very slow; my SO makes less tip money every time they work together. The daughter is the manager and makes the schedules and never schedules herself with her mother. -Denise forces them to meet up with her a half hour before their shifts to pick up milk so Denise only has to drive half the distance to the shop. They also force the employees to drive and get supplies during their shifts when they run out because they're too lazy to do it themselves. They do not give them gas money for this inconvenience. -recently the daughter (lets call her Tess) sent out a mass email to all employees concerned with the amount of time being taken off. She gave them a list of what she thought were legitimate reasons (doctors appts, family trips) to take time off and what weren't legitimate reasons (everything else). The email was prompted by an employee who recently gave birth and was taking a break because she was burnt out from motherhood and working all the time. Note this is not vacation hours, this is just asking for certain days off which the employees do not get paid for. -Denise pays herself (and probably her daughter too) under the table. In addition, Denise makes 12/hr while she pays the employees minimum wage for the same job. My girlfriend has not gotten a raise in 4 years. -Tess is a disaster of a human being who sends passive aggressive emails constantly and gets off on the power trip of having people to boss around. Today was the breaking point for me: a truck driver did a hit and run at their shop damaging the rain gutter (minimally) during my SO's shift. When she texted Tess, Tess calls my girlfriend and tells her the damage is "horrible" and that she should have gotten the license plate and info and that the mother will be calling her to scold her for not doing so. Most normal people would ask if the employees are ok, but they were just upset about the damage to their shop and blamed my SO and the other girl working(Kathy). My girlfriend came home crying and I was pissed. She called the owner who basically scolded my SO for not being the Terminator and chasing the truck and driver down. Kathy got the worst of it because she's younger and both Denise and Tess don't like her. My girlfriend is pretty sure that they will both get write ups for it, and Kathy might get fired. I'm pretty much done playing nice with these people. I want to see what the options are for legal action or how to handle this situation. Any advice?
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Aug 31, 2014 06:31
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 15:41 |
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Get her a better job? This doesn't sound like a career to your girlfriend, so she should just give these people the finger and go somewhere where they do respect her enough to give her a raise after 4 years of working(I would've left after a 3 month trial and no raise). They pay minimum wage? Guess what, that's the bottom, she can only go up with other jobs. Food service places go through people like crazy, it shouldn't be too hard for her to find another, similar job that'll pay better and let her keep her tips.
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Aug 31, 2014 08:00
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Start stealing poo poo.
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Aug 31, 2014 09:15
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seniorservice posted:I'm pretty much done playing nice with these people. I want to see what the options are for legal action or how to handle this situation. Any advice? After that work on why she stuck around in a lovely job working for abusive pricks for four loving years.
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Aug 31, 2014 10:21
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Take your girlfriend's owner to court for violating the 13th Amendment.
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Aug 31, 2014 12:58
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seniorservice posted:she pays the employees minimum wage for the same job. My girlfriend has not gotten a raise in 4 years Even if the OP contained nothing but this, the correct answer is "quit and find another job, you dumb fucks". Ideally, 3 years and 9 months ago.
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Aug 31, 2014 15:26
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This is a great opportunity for you to lead them to the lord.
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Aug 31, 2014 18:00
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Rent-A-Cop posted:After that work on why she stuck around in a lovely job working for abusive pricks for four loving years.
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Aug 31, 2014 18:12
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I didn't read the whole post, but I don't think your employer is supposed to own you, so fix that first.
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Aug 31, 2014 23:27
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Chiming in on the "She needs to get a new job and forget that place" train. The tip thing is illegal (assuming you're in the US), hands down, but your only recourse is for her to take it to the local labor board. Where she'll go on record, and any time someone wants, they'd be able to find that record - which, even if legitimate, will cause some bars/restaurants (and I'm assuming coffee houses) to think twice about hiring her, simply because she's That Girl that went and caused a stink.
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Aug 31, 2014 23:50
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Working for a small family business is absolute poo poo and there's nothing legal worth doing, just find another job.
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Sep 1, 2014 02:25
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There's nothing anyone is going to do that will be worth the time and effort. There isn't going to be some landmark lawsuit that takes down the corruption and brings justice to the unrighteous. Just get over it, quit, and work somewhere else.
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Sep 1, 2014 06:21
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She could start the long and arduous path of unionizing a goofy independent coffee shop, or . . . She could quit and get another job, because there is no shortage of coffee shop jobs in the world for minimum wage.
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Sep 1, 2014 15:36
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She should quit, but it's actually not a big ordeal to make a complaint to the Dept of Labor. They'll investigate (mainly the tip thing probably) and then follow up with the business regularly. If nothing else, your girlfriend could inflict some policing on her bosses and possibly make it a little more tolerable for everyone she leaves behind when she gets a new job.
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Sep 1, 2014 15:46
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RedMage129 posted:There's nothing anyone is going to do that will be worth the time and effort. There isn't going to be some landmark lawsuit that takes down the corruption and brings justice to the unrighteous. Just get over it, quit, and work somewhere else. Yeah this.. Suing them will cost you years of your life and more money than it's worth. Report them to the relevant authorities and get her another job.
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Sep 1, 2014 16:11
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I think at this point she should just show up and say "no" to all requests do go above and beyond. Make it a game to see how long 'till they fire her  . She should be looking for another job while she does this. also: she is really silly to stay at this job for that long. Like, super silly.
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Sep 1, 2014 16:40
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Why the hell did she stay at a minimum wage job for four years with no raise? Check this out - they pay literally the absolute minimum they are allowed to. That means that literally any job she could find will pay as much or more. So the correct thing to do is go find a new job and next time if people treat her like poo poo and aren't providing great compensation, find a new job then too. Perhaps Starbucks would be a good idea? I've not worked there myself, but I'm under the impression they pay more than minimum wage, provide great benefits, have flexible scheduling, and as an added bonus if a manager pulls this poo poo you have an HR department to go to instead of contemplating initiating a lawsuit that will all but assuredly cost more in legal fees than any possible payout. edit; Also if the owner pays herself and her daughter 12/hr, do you seriously think you are going to actually collect a dime from any legal judgement? You'll spend more time trying to collect that money than it's worth, and by that I mean any minimum wage job would pay more than the time it would take to actually see that money. Because they don't have it. Dramatika fucked around with this message at 16:57 on Sep 1, 2014 |
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Sep 1, 2014 16:44
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She can complain to the Department of Labor, which will lead to her being fired for something trivial a few weeks later. At that point she can sue them for retaliation and not get enough of a settlement to cover legal costs.
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Sep 1, 2014 17:02
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GWBBQ posted:She can complain to the Department of Labor, which will lead to her being fired for something trivial a few weeks later. At that point she can sue them for retaliation and not get enough of a settlement to cover legal costs. This is truly the message of Labor Day, by the way.
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Sep 1, 2014 17:26
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I think the more important thing here is getting it through to her that there's a big difference between being a good employee and basically being some crazy person's punching bag for years.* She needs to learn to draw some boundaries about what is and isn't OK instead of hunkering down and eating poo poo for years. It's a good life skill to have in general, not just in the workplace. Also realizing that there are other job options out there can be really freeing when you feel like you're trapped in a lovely job with a nutjob boss. *(yes I know a lot of employers would probably disagree  )
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Sep 1, 2014 17:39
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Tell your girlfriend to learn some kind of skill or trade so she can deal with slightly more upscale problems than this.
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Sep 1, 2014 17:40
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Cant sue about pay difference or bitchy boss. Mileage is not required to be paid unless its in a contract. Can call the labor board for Unpaid hours.. if the meetings are required. Split tips (unless its agreed by all workers) Under the table hours Document the poo poo out of everything and see of coworkers will coroborate. Tell your gf to find another job and quit she may even get unemployment if the work environment was lovely enough. Source I had a boss that was lovely and did illegal things like calling workers independent contractors, holding pay for accidental damage done while performing job duties, witholding tips. I called the labor board on his rear end and he had to pay employees what they deserved. tater_salad fucked around with this message at 20:56 on Sep 1, 2014 |
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Sep 1, 2014 20:53
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Lawyers and courts will get you nowhere fast. They go after big organizations committing mass transgressions and they are only going to bother with slam dunk crap that you have a water tight paper trail on. In Seattle we have a worker solidarity network that would love to take on a case like yours. If you live in an area with a decent size population you could look into a solidarity network that will hear your case, analyze the righteousness of it, weigh a basic strat (if they can win or not) and if they decide to take on the fight, they will basically harass the poo poo out the horrible offending business until the worker's demands are met. Their campaigns are creative and successful in Seattle. Check them out seasol dot net
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Sep 1, 2014 21:29
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File a complaint with the state's wage and hour division and look for a better job.
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Sep 1, 2014 22:29
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It all depends upon your location, where are you?
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Sep 2, 2014 02:57
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Getting fired is the best thing that can happen. Is this the only service industry job in the town or what? File a complaint with the department of labor. http://www.dol.gov/wecanhelp/howtofilecomplaint.htm Look for a new job. Edit: It looks like you can file a third party complaint.
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Sep 2, 2014 21:00
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seniorservice posted:In addition, Denise makes 12/hr while she pays the employees minimum wage for the same job. My girlfriend has not gotten a raise in 4 years. Most everything has already been said, but- You're surprised that the owner makes more money than the employees? This is the standard for every place in the world which is not currently an anarchist utopia. In addition, the fact that the owner and her daughter are only making $12 an hour themselves means that this business makes almost no money, and therefore there is no extra money to pay any of the employees more than minimum wage. Nobody is going to be getting any raises ever, except when minimum wage goes up.
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Sep 3, 2014 00:28
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Orange Sunshine posted:Most everything has already been said, but- ..And then they have to let everyone go to keep overhead low enough to stay open!
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Sep 3, 2014 01:00
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Kiss Kiss Bang Bang posted:..And then they have to let everyone go to keep overhead low enough to stay open! funny that we have an over abundance of min wage jobs despite the chorus of doom that echos from business every single time it has been raised.
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Sep 3, 2014 01:10
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Orange Sunshine posted:Most everything has already been said, but- Yep, this is very true.
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Sep 3, 2014 05:17
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 15:41 |
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Just how much free time do you have on your hands OP? 
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Sep 14, 2014 15:00
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