TL:DR tried to ignore red flags at a small business until it became clear that I wouldn’t get paid for training, receive breaks etc and had some incredibly erratic exchanges.
I tried picking up some part time work at a small, new-ish boutique fitness spot running the front desk. I had a brief interview with the owner which was casual. During the chat, she complained about some recent employees that weren’t a fit which led her to make a more thorough employee training guide.
She explained that she’d like me to come in for a training shift (shadowing someone for 6.5 hours), a supervised shift where she would observe me work (again 6.5-7 hours), and then I’d be placed on the schedule.
I arrived on for the training and was shown the ropes and carried out some tasks on my own. During downtime I was reviewing the manual. The shift was 1:30-8 and I wasn’t told anything about clocking out for a break/meal but the person working told me I could order something and eat during downtime which I did.
Some other small things cropped up during the course of my shift, including the owner explicitly telling us to lie about having allergies if someone tried to bring in a service animal, as she didn’t want to deal with dog hair.
After the shift, we connected about getting my supervised shift scheduled. She was being shady and avoidant so with all of these things combined I decided to be upfront and ask about payment. She replied that the two shifts were “introductory”, therefore unpaid, and I retorted that that was illegal and against FLSA.
From there she went off the rails.
She was aghast that I was “demanding money“ for doing no work. She claimed that all I did was sit behind the desk and eat. When she said “You were not hired by me yet and training is meant to see if you're a good fit for the job and to explain to you what the job requires” it became clear that she had no understanding that ANY sort of on the job training must be paid.
Some friends that were aware of the saga decided to leave poor reviews on the business based on their business practices. I got an email accusing me of leaving the poor reviews and using fake names, and then I received a follow-up email saying that if I took the reviews down, she would Venmo me my wages.
I replied, saying that I had not left those reviews, and that I would ask the folks that did to take them down. I also reiterated the fact that I have never been in a role, corporate, retail or food service, that did not have paid training shifts before actual employment. She replied in a condescending way, casting doubt on my assertion that I did not leave those reviews and doubled down on the fact that I was eating the entirety of my 6 1/2 hour shift (which felt charged due to my size compared to customers and other employees) She also added in the fact that she has never had an upset employee and that everyone who had started at the business was still there, which directly contradicted the information she gave me in our very first interview.
She concluded by asserting that she would not be sending me any sort of wages without all reviews taken down. Many of my friends stayed firm and kept the reviews up. The next day they were all wiped from the business’ Google account and I did not get paid.
It is just so sincerely shocking how many people believe they are above the law and that laws do not apply to them because they are a smaller business or independently owned. She kept saying things like “introductory shift” or “trial,” as if changing the verbiage would make it ok to not pay wages.
I’ve reported to DOL in my state and started to spread the word to folks in the area as well as people that do this specific type of workout to avoid the business. Just follow the law! It’s not that hard – and if it would fuck with your books to correctly pay people then your business is a failure.