I’m not like a super political person, and from my understanding its the idea that if I make a $10 thing for the bossman, but only get $1 that is wage theft?

But like, when I took the job I knew how much I was going to make?

Or is it like, people are literally not getting their paychecks?

I’m slightly inebreated, lazy, and don’t want my algorithms to start becoming politically charged from googling and youtubing this. I’m already collapse aware and my mental health is ultra fragile.

Help me Lemmy wan kenobi, you’re my only hope.

  • Transporter Room 3@startrek.website
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    24
    ·
    10 months ago

    Got a manager fired when I told a couple people he was chopping off 5 minutes from each shift. Apparently I’m one of the few people who ever checks time sheets.

    I convinced them to start filming themselves clocking in and out. Phones are permitted as long as you don’t pull them out on the floor. Offices are a-OK. So the camera captures your number input and displays the time in/out in big pretty easily distinguishable numbers.

    Called up the district manager, sent a single email with all the videos and after-payday time sheets, and within two hours the district manager was in the store (which means she was already nearby or she was hauling ass to try and do damage control)

    The following five minutes can be summed up with the now-former manager being escorted out by two of the largest stock room guys on the clock and the DM escorting the manager out of the building, all the contents of his desk and computer being hastily stuffed in a box and mailed to a corporate office, the DM begging us not to sue the company, giving most of us the recorded promise of a 10% raise in addition to all backpay and a week of PTO “starting today”

    Now to modern me, this all screams “you have a legitimate lawsuit that could blow up in our faces and balloon to other stores so we’re trying to cover it up and get you away from other employees and keep you from talking about it” but nobody else seemed to care and i am not the man I am today. Potentially fighting a solo lawsuit against a multi-billion dollar corporation isn’t exactly the same thing as going over your managers head to get them in trouble.

    The replacement manager had no problem shittalking the previous, criminal one. Apparently his reasoning was “it’s the time it takes to put on your uniform which is unpaid because it’s unproductive” which… Yikes. Luckily corporate didn’t agree, at least at the time.

    For the record, everyone came in dress code. “putting on the uniform” required putting your lanyard badge on.

    15 seconds if you’re taking your time.

    • forrgott@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      17
      ·
      10 months ago

      Last I checked, by law you are supposed to receive pay for any actions taken on site that are directly work related. Which includes getting into uniform. So that dude’s reasoning was bunk anyway.

    • NABDad@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      10 months ago

      I am also aware of a manager at my job who got fired for playing those games. Fired and security-escorted out.

      Knowing the department director and how she felt about the employees, she was probably enraged when she found out what the manager under her was doing.

      Here it’s very difficult to fire an employee after the probationary period, but managers are relatively easy to fire. There’s a three strikes rule for managers. Whenever a PIA manager starts being extra nice to everyone, you know they just got reported to HR for a second time.

      Screwing with time cards in the U.S. is extra double bad because of federal law.

      If the employee can prove the manager has done it, they’ve proven that their employer is both guilty of wage theft, and also that they’ve destroyed the records showing how much time you actually worked. So usually the employees get to say how much they are owed, and the employer has no way to argue against it.

      If I recall correctly, if it was an honest mistake, the employer has to pay back two times what was owed. If it was intentional, then they have to pay back three times what was owed.

      There aren’t many worker protections in the U.S., but that particular set of laws is ok. Of course, there could be additional protections in state or local laws.

      Edit: clarification and typo.