I got hired to run embroidery machines a little over a year ago. He barely interviewed me, paid me what I asked, told me it would be paid training and “the more you learn to do here the more I'll pay you. ” Day One I'm just picking & packing orders in a mini warehouse and learn shipping. It's not hard, just attention to detail which I'm great at. It was a couple months in before he even showed me the machines, and that paid training? A bunch of poorly made YouTube videos I was expected to watch during “downtime” which he also actively worked against. I was still excited to learn it and excited to brush up on my digital skills, but I was really wanting to learn the embroidery software. He didn't want to pay for that, he outsourced that somewhere cheaper.
So whatever. I did good enough work that they gave me a raise when I asked for it. But this last month they brought in someone to do most of the warehouse work and I focused on just the machines. My hours keep getting cut, he had me take the whole week off after Tues last week. When I came in this Monday I saw a stack of embroidery orders but as soon as he came in he told me he was letting me go cuz he couldn't afford to keep paying me. Right, that means he found someone cheaper.
I'm pretty sure he should have been paying employment taxes for me, but he paid me like an independent contractor. Maybe there are exceptions for businesses that small. I was only 1 of 2 other employees who weren't family. He's not hurting that much, he's just cheap. I don't know if it's worth trying to report him. I'm in Illinois.
Doesn't really matter, end result is the same. I always find a way to survive and he doesn't matter anymore. I've pretty much retired from providing but it gave me lots of skills outside the bedroom, its just difficult to put on a resume, ya know? Just wanted to speak my story to a group that could commiserate.