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Input wanted regarding previous employment

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this but it involves working for a bad company so figured I'd put it out there. Bear with me…its a little long. I previously worked for a company that did party performing/mascots. I was with them for a little over a month and from the get go saw serious red flags. The owner hired us on as independent contractors, and I've done that type of work in the last so I didn't forsee there would be any issues. The first flag I noticed was that most of the communicating is done via a Facebook page. It seemed a little unprofessional to me but was told they were trying to find an appropriate app to communicate through. Very rarely do we work with other employees, maybe 1 or 2 at a time. One day an employee didn't show up for…


I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this but it involves working for a bad company so figured I'd put it out there. Bear with me…its a little long.

I previously worked for a company that did party performing/mascots. I was with them for a little over a month and from the get go saw serious red flags. The owner hired us on as independent contractors, and I've done that type of work in the last so I didn't forsee there would be any issues.

The first flag I noticed was that most of the communicating is done via a Facebook page. It seemed a little unprofessional to me but was told they were trying to find an appropriate app to communicate through. Very rarely do we work with other employees, maybe 1 or 2 at a time. One day an employee didn't show up for her shift. The owner posted on the Facebook group, “name___ where are you, you're supposed to be at the cancer fundraiser?” She then started making comments such as “Who the f*** stands up cancer kids?” And then proceeds to post screenshots of the employee's conversation via text. I was flabbergasted at the lack of professionalism for one; secondly the fact she jumped to conclusions immediately. For all we know, that employee could have been in an accident, or had an emergency come up and I saw that as lacking a lot of empathy.

Upon joining, there wasn't much organization or direction so I often would reach out to the owner for clarification. She would get rude and snippy with me often. When I brought it up to another employee to get her opinion, she mentioned that the owner is sweet but can be very emotionally driven.

There was a “training/photoshoot” that was made mandatory for us to attend if we wanted to work future events/gigs. There was no mention of being unpaid, until shortly beforehand but at that point I didn't have time to look into the legality of it. The morning of I had been feeling ill and inquired about attending as covid is spreading like wildfire, she told me to attend and wear a mask. I arrived late due to this, and getting lost. While at the event, a lot of the other employees were very immature and caddy. I could sense this high school like mentality and I should have left then and there as it was giving me anxiety. I mentioned I was having anxiety and the owner offered me an anxiety med which I refused because thats illegal and….just wtf. As the day continued, I overheard the owner badmouthing past employees who couldn't make the training due to their other jobs, and saying “everyone wants to be a princess, we'll find people to replace them.” Toxic.

The next day, there was communication among employees on the Facebook chat and pictures posted. These pictures were HEAVILY PHOTOSHOPPED, and another employee (one of the two I actually get along with) spoke up about it. She expressed how as this is content for children she wants it to be natural. I backed her up, in a professional and kind way, as I have a background in childcare, expressing how this can contribute to unrealistic beauty standards and loving ourselves for who we are is enough. Anyone can be a princess, fairy, mascot whatever. The owner and one of her minion employees verbally attacked us, and started holding things over our heads such am my tardiness, and my coworkers outfit not fitting properly…both of which were no problem before. Bullying from other employees as well.

I resigned shortly after because I can not work for someone like that. The other coworker did as well and tried to fight for pay as we are contractors, but the owner said “photoshoots are unpaid per the contract.” Owner mentioned this was a training as well. They went back and forth and then the owner deleted everything related to this training and blocked us both. I screenshooted and saved the contract, and all documents before this happened. I reviewed the contract and there is no mention of photoshoots being unpaid. I also looked up independent contractor laws and it says if hours are mandatory we must be paid. She basically blackmailed us going or she wouldn't schedule us. I also still have a friend who works for this women and they made some nasty bullying comments after we left.

As I start looking into more documents, I notice that is a section of “mileage is included in gig pay.” As a contractor, mileage is supposed to be comped per standard tax mile….
The owner put this in the handbook, not the contract and the contract has no mention of the handbook in it at all. I'm wondering if that is legal because some are these gigs were hours away….so it was our time and money.
Owner also had deducted my old coworkers pay because she didn't sell enough tickets for the tour events which is unreal to me. Her employees still did the same amount of work.

This company's ratings have gone down on Google, and she has now asked her employees to write reviews for her which is a conflict of interest. I saw numerous fake accounts also leaving 5 stars. I want to leave a negative one but am fearful of her retaliation as this woman is awful and I don't want to be sued. I also want to be the bigger person but how she treats people is so out of line and unacceptable….yet her employees all feel similarly but won't stand up to her. Don't know if it's fear or what?

I've considered reporting the company as I feel there is some sketchy stuff going on. When I deep dived on Google there is a lot of really unpleasant stuff written about her. I don't know if I should just be the bigger person, let it be as it was only a 6 hour training and it will eventually tank, or try to move forward in getting justice, standing up for what's right and being paid. I'm so angry about all of this and have been sitting on this for a month.

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