Ok, a little background here.
My mom is hardly one to be quiet when shit is happening. She will speak out. She has done it before: When my dad was in the military, she worked once at the Navy Lodge: a hotel mainly for military families moving in or out.
She got annoyed at all the civilians staying there, and notified the Secretary of the Navy, the Admiral in charge of the base, and Clinton’s office. 111 (the building that handled stuff like the Navy Lodge, among other things) got a few interesting calls…
Now to the point. She has taken a job in the deli at a certain store. It pays six bucks an hour, but as I said, 40 hours at six bucks is better than none or intermittent at seven.
Now she loves the store. It’s a pretty good place. And the owner (who I believe owns a restaurant chain also) is pretty nice. This is his first shot at a supermarket.
But things are going to hell. Let me begin.
She’s only HEARD about it, but some employees are being paid 4.75 an hour. Now, to those who even glanced at labor laws, minimum wage is 5.15. This is not a union law (the store isn’t unionized), this is FEDERAL.
She also talked to one kid who had to go around the neighborhood, at NIGHT, to find shopping carts. Alright. But the kid is 17. They’ve sent a 15 year old to do it. I’m sorry, but with a minor, the store is liable for the child’s welfare as a PARENT. Minors are not supposed to leave the premises. If even one thing happens to one of the kids, the owner will probably wonder why the place is being shut down. To say the least. Not to mention that I belive the kid is qworking 35 hors. If he’s in school still, there will be HELL to pay.
One woman is also afraid to come into work because she was being sexually harassed. Another employee went to notify one of the managers and was basically told “You tell anyone about this, and you’re fired.” Isn’t that illegal?
I think the same emplyee was dealing with some corn that had gone bad. The owner came upon this and told her simply: “This gets thrown out.” Sounds fair enough. Then one of the managers tells her not to, and to go back, <i>into the trash</i>, and wrap the corn. Wow. The government would LOVE to see that.
My mom has found maggots in one of the slicers. Fortunately, she warned everyone not to use it and made sure it was sanitized.
Add to that that they’re cutting hours (with two new girls just in), saying the deli isn’t making a profit. Which seems like bullshit to her, because the deli gets a LOT of customers.
And she’s expected to stock the floor in front of the deli. Her job description, as she puts it, is to deal with cutomers, make the food for the deli… and make sure the health authorites don’t just them down.
This is a small list I remember. But one has to wonder. My mom thinks the owner doesn’t know about this: he seems pretty decent, and I imagine he’s had experience with labor and health laws due to his restaurant experience.
Thus, she and another employee are going to a lawyer soon to see about documenting and presenting some of the shit that goes on to the owner. She’s put it simply: She’d love for one of the managers to threaten her job. Meh. Some of this stuff would make the store shut down, STAT.
Here’s another bit. One of the managers was fired for snorting coke in the office. Now how retarded is that? One woders if the rest of them are, if saving 16 bucks is stronger than no job and maybe jail time. Did they take management classes at Enron U. or soemthign?
