So I currently work at a restaurant. I've been working there for about 7 months. Recently I realized some of my tips were being skimmed off my paycheck. I'm not sure if this has happened before (it probably has but I didn't notice) I approached my manager and we looked at the total tips earned for two of the days I worked and did some calculations and he agreed I should've made more. that night I texted the owner and he told me that tips were just “really bad” that week. I told him what me and the manager had looked at and my boss just re explained how tip share worked. the next day I texted him back and told him I wanted to see the breakdown of the tips/hours. and asked how tip share was weighted between FOH and BOH. I found out that prep was getting the same percentage of tip share as I was. (as far as I know that's not illegal. it's just unfair imo). and then he told me he would double check everything was right. a sudden change from his assurance that everything was how it should be. the manager also talked to him that day and the owner “swore everything was right”.
this morning I got a text from saying he looked and he had “input the numbers wrong” and they actually owed me another $74.28 in tips and did I want that added to my next paycheck or in check form. I originally only got $66 in tips. that's a big difference.
I picked up a second job a week ago (that I haven't started yet) because of how much I didn't enjoy working at the restaurant. this pissed them off and I was given a BS excuse and warning that they couldn't promise me a spot if I cut my hours down. (literally from working 4 days a week to two or three) which is completely illogical because I know for a fact that a lot of other workers FOH are actually asking for more hours.
I just got a warning from my coworker informing me that I am about to get fired (I go in tomorrow so it'll probably happen then) apparently we're doing so bad money wise they need to let about half the FOH staff go (about four people). otherwise they would be forced to close soon. I was told he spent ages last night looking at money stuff trying to figure stuff out.
on top of that, I just looked at one of my older paychecks from a few months ago where I had worked 44.2 hours and I did the calculations and I was not paid over time for those hours.
this is all highly suspicious right? what can I do?
I'm not even sure how much money has been taken from me because it's possible they've been skimming from my tips for the past 7 months.