Note: I am already taking a couple legal steps and do not require “get a lawyer” or “file a complaint” advice at this time. Thankyou. Other than that, input is welcome.
Today would've been my third day at a job I got through a temp agency. This is my second job through this agency, and I was working in a warehouse.
The manager seemed ok, but there were a couple red flags, including him(m60?) saying “I'm trying to build a ~drama free~ team, and I've had to get rid of a lot of bad apples”. Ok guy.
I got along with just about everyone I met, and the one person I am unsure of I was going to talk to about a weird interaction we had (my fault). Every time my manager talked to me, he seemed irritable like I was going to fight him, and to be clear, I never did.
Anyways, I spoke with the co-worker training me about what (I was under the impression) my wages were. There was a difference in our earnings, and I encouraged him to talk to management about it to see what was up. He did, and then came back to me saying it was a miscommunication, and he hopes he didn't get me in trouble by bringing it up. I shrugged it off because I literally was just not gonna stress about it, and it seemed like he got what he needed from the conversation.
I was pulled aside by my manager and told that despite what my recruiter told me, there was no descrepancy/difference in my earnings and my coworkers'. I calmly said “okay, that clears it up then” but my manager went on to say “yeah, from now on if you could keep that stuff (wages) to yourself and not spread it around, it's caused a lot of problems and I'm hearing about it from higher ups”.
I laughed a little in surprise and stopped for a split second to think, then said to him verbatim “respectfully, It's illegal for employers to tell employees not to discuss wages”. He looked extremely agitated/flustered, grumbled about it causing him problems, and thats when the conversation ended.
I wish it had ended there, but it didn't.
The next day I forgot to put steel toe caps on my shoes, which is a requirement for being in my work area. I didn't realize until near the end of my shift when manager walked by momentarily and asked me if my shoes were steel toed. I looked down and told him no, and that I don't have the money to get safety shoes yet. He interrupted me and said he was going to go talk to a higher up about it. He turned and left and I kept working, finishing what I was doing before going to get the toe caps.
Time slipped by and got distracted (I was learning a new task) when he came back and said that he is gonna have to send me home if I don't wear the toe caps. I said “okay, I'll go get them and put them on now” and he re-explained to me that I need to wear them when I'm on the floor, and I explained to him that I was waiting for our conversation to be over so I could put them on. He seemed really angry? And I was really truely just trying to do what he said to do.
A bit later one co-worker loaned me $40 to buy some shoes at Walmart, and I cried, agreeing to pay him back the following week, when I get paid. Another co-worker later asked me my shoe size to see if she had any safety shoes at home that would fit me. Sweetest coworkers ever :,)
Fast forward to this morning, I walk in wearing the toecaps, and I tape them onto my shoes (I was tripping on them this entire time since they were loose, awkward, and painful after my 10 hour shift) and there's a shift meeting where the wages thing was addressed by my managers' supervisor as a non issue, and to come talk to him with questions or proof. At the end of the meeting my manager asks me if I had anything to add and I said no, confused why he would ask me that.
Before I can get started on my workload/training, he pulls me aside and takes me to a meeting room with another manager from a different shift. “we're gonna let you go” he says, and when I asked why, he said I caused too many problems talking about wages with my co-worker. He also said that I refused to wear the proper safety equipment. I explained to him that isn't what happened and I was ready and willing to put on the toecaps, and said as much at the time. He said nonetheless, they're letting me go.
I got to chat with the first co-worker outside, told him that it's not his fault they fired me and if I could pay him back with venmo or something, he told me to keep the money. He said he did talk to two people about it, and I told him that it truely did not matter, and that is was the managers choice to be what he chose to be.
Sorry if this reads poorly, I'm still angry and processing and I have a lot of writing to do over the weekend.
TLDR; tried to follow the rules, got fired for some bullshit. Now I have some free time.