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Quenby (they/them)

The counter girl hopped right up when I walked in and was clocking in to help me.

Me: were you on break? I can wait until it's over I'm not in a hurry.

Her: no, we're supposed to clock out when there aren't customers

Me: oh no, honey, no. That's illegal.

Her: 😳

Me: not for you, for your manager or whoever told you to do that.

Her: it is?

Me: it's called wage theft when your boss doesn't pay you what you earned. when your boss requires you to stay here, he needs you pay you for your time.

Her: oh.

Me: here, this is the office number to an employment lawyer, call her and tell her you need to come in to talk about this

Her: I don't have any money

Me: we're gonna get your money, you already earned it sweetie.

Edit message to include a link to info about worker's rights:

dol.gov/agencies/whd/workers

9 Nov 2023 at 20:57 | Open on cutie.city
46 comments
Chip Unicorn

@Quenby Not all superheroes wear capes.

9 Nov 2023 at 22:45 | Open on im-in.space
Cactuar Joe
Wokebloke (call me Doug)

@Quenby
Good lord! Did she mention how long it took her to put in an eight hour day?

9 Nov 2023 at 23:03 | Open on libretooth.gr
glasspshr

@Quenby holy f*cking sh*t. Thank you. I’m shocked that this is happening, and yet…I guess I shouldn't be shocked?

9 Nov 2023 at 23:30 | Open on beige.party
lopta

@Quenby My boss rounds down our hours to 7.5 per day, regardless of the work we do.

9 Nov 2023 at 23:49 | Open on mastodon.social
CassandraZeroCovid
Miriam Jacobs

@lopta @Quenby Well that stops today. Dm me the name of the place and I’ll put in a call. That shit is illegal.

10 Nov 2023 at 18:05 | Open on mstdn.social
Wokebloke (call me Doug)

@lopta @Quenby
No matter why he/she does it, it's illegal. Talk to somebody. Look up labor relations in your city/state and go talk to them.

10 Nov 2023 at 23:01 | Open on libretooth.gr
lopta

@dougiec3 @Quenby He's in another state and I'm from another country. The company, at least in North America, seems to be quite inept. I would like to improve things for their other employees but I can't do that now.

10 Nov 2023 at 23:22 | Open on mastodon.social
Exindiv

@Quenby
Bless you, you fantastic person, you.

9 Nov 2023 at 23:50 | Open on chitter.xyz
DELETED
Subjacent Banana

@Quenby I was short-clocked at Walmart as a teenager (in the 90s) by about 3 hours a week. They lost a class action about it, I believe.

I like to think the Waltons needed that $16/week from my $85 check. My charitable contribution to America.🥳

10 Nov 2023 at 0:11 | Open on zeroes.ca
Loki

@subjacentish @Quenby I am now wondering how legal it was for the veterinarian's office that I worked at straight out of high school to have us do double shifts instead of taking a lunch break.

10 Nov 2023 at 1:44 | Open on beach.city
Subjacent Banana

@Loki_Leigh @Quenby I worked retail all through my teen years. I basically never got any lunch breaks or breaks at all. Major retailers.

I did get breaks at the small lumber yard I worked at through college. They treated me 100x better.

10 Nov 2023 at 4:40 | Open on zeroes.ca
Ben S.

@Loki_Leigh @subjacentish @Quenby when I worked at Taco Bell 20 years ago, they tried to make me work the first 6 hours of my 8 hour shifts without a break, because the lunch rush always started mid-shift. This meant no sitting down, etc.

One day when the district manager was in the store, I walked up to him and the store manager and told them this was a violation of state labor law and it needed to stop. They made DAMNED sure that I got my breaks every day after that lol.

10 Nov 2023 at 9:33 | Open on mastodon.sdf.org
Miriam Jacobs

@Loki_Leigh @subjacentish @@cutie.city Not legal at all. Rules on breaks and lunches based on hours worked/scheduled.

10 Nov 2023 at 18:25 | Open on mstdn.social
Wokebloke (call me Doug)

@subjacentish @Quenby
Walmart settled a class action suit, in 2022, rather than go to court, that concerned complaints that employees were forced to work after clocking out- $35 million.

10 Nov 2023 at 23:06 | Open on libretooth.gr
Nova
ZigZaggin

@Quenby What is the punishment for that? Even when she gets her back wages, the employer committed theft and it should be punished as theft.

10 Nov 2023 at 4:22 | Open on mastodon.sdf.org
legumancer Davy

@zigzaggin @Quenby wage theft falls under civil rather than criminal law, which of course has nothing at all to do with how lawmakers are more likely to be employers than employees.

10 Nov 2023 at 9:50 | Open on tech.lgbt
Quenby (they/them)

@zigzaggin
It's a civil thing, so the punishment is money. Sometimes they will have to pay you 2x or 3x what they stole depending on circumstances and how egregious their actions were.

(He's also probably going to get in trouble with the IRS for not doing his employment taxes right, but that's a separate thing from the wage theft. Only commit one crime at a time 🙃)

All of this is mostly just going to cost him money though

10 Nov 2023 at 12:23 | Open on cutie.city
Holir_

@zigzaggin @Quenby Some states, like NY, I believe tack on interest & penalties. Over all the design is to mostly let companies get away it as long its not too egregious. While allowing employees who enforce their rights, which is the lesser amount, to have some avenue of compensation after the fact.

10 Nov 2023 at 20:53 | Open on infosec.exchange
Easelbitch™️ :verified: 🕉️

@Quenby

Bravo burn whoever the thief is

10 Nov 2023 at 4:51 | Open on mastodon.world
Steve's Place

@Quenby I worked as a contractor for a company that required I claim no more than 40 hours a week despite working 60+ always. There are a lot of companies like this. I hope she takes you up on that, as I should have.

10 Nov 2023 at 4:54 | Open on mastodon.stevesworld.co
DELETED

@Quenby Is this just a story to make a point or did this actually happen? It's so sad I have to ask that question.

10 Nov 2023 at 5:53 | Open on mastodon.social
Quenby (they/them)

@karatekid
It actually happened but quotes are to the best of my memory and not verbatim.

10 Nov 2023 at 12:17 | Open on cutie.city
DELETED

@Quenby It's hard to believe in today's age this kind of thing still happening. I keep imagining this kind of thing mostly happening in the time of the Industrial Revolution but there is still so much exploitation happening. Just makes me sick. I hope that woman reported her employer and changes were made.

10 Nov 2023 at 17:27 | Open on mastodon.social
Quenby (they/them)

@karatekid
It happens a lot in dispensaries here. The owners will pressure the employees saying they can't get another job or "it's your word against mine" etc.

She's making over $20/hr but he's not paying her for all the hours she's working. He told her "you're not going to get paid this much an hour anywhere else" etc.

Anyway, always ask if the tips in the jar go to the employees. I'm finding that sometimes they don't and that's an opportunity to educate.

@karatekid
It happens a lot in dispensaries here. The owners will pressure the employees saying they can't get another job or "it's your word against mine" etc.

She's making over $20/hr but he's not paying her for all the hours she's working. He told her "you're not going to get paid this much an hour anywhere else" etc.

10 Nov 2023 at 20:54 | Open on cutie.city
strangetown

@Quenby What an arsehole. I hope he gets taken to the cleaners.

10 Nov 2023 at 7:51 | Open on toot.wales
Jeff Byrnes
Autumn Rook

@Quenby Wow...just wow. Thank you for helping her and her co-workers too. That employer needs to be legally smacked into next Tuesday.

10 Nov 2023 at 15:26 | Open on mastodon.online
SusanHR

@Quenby Where is this criminal slaver?
In my book, this slaver needs to be fined a huge amount of money, have all its assets expropriated, and spend a decade in jail.

10 Nov 2023 at 16:22 | Open on mas.to
David

@SusanHR @Quenby The USA has a habit of paying slavers to stop slavery instead of fining them out of business. Probably because the slavers bought the government.

10 Nov 2023 at 17:38 | Open on fediscience.org
Elfi, :verifiedtransbian: cute moth

@Quenby Hell yeah, doing good work out there <3

10 Nov 2023 at 17:03 | Open on social.pixie.town
Dawn Tåke 🌙:sparkletrans:
AlexisDyslexic

@Quenby Bed Bath & Beyond used to pull this. It was super validating when I got a check from a class action lawsuits a decade later. The money wasn't much but the dignity of your time being respected was awesome.

10 Nov 2023 at 19:52 | Open on urbanists.social
Hugo 雨果

@Quenby Thanks for doing this! ❤️🙏

10 Nov 2023 at 21:07 | Open on fosstodon.org
Edwardo Lobo

@Quenby nice of them to do wage theft in a highly documentable manner.

10 Nov 2023 at 21:37 | Open on eldritch.cafe
mc

@Quenby An employment lawyer? Whoa. In my country this would be a union ombudsman.

10 Nov 2023 at 23:19 | Open on hackers.town
DELETED

@Quenby

WITH THE REPUBLICAN PARTY'S ROLLING BACK OF CHILD LABOR LAW'S! IMAGINE THE ABUSE GOING ON?

11 Nov 2023 at 0:28 | Open on mstdn.social
This is Hell
lazysupper 🍂🍁 salguod, man
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