I’m a college student off for the summer working a daily summer camp job in MA. It’s not a sleep-away camp, but it runs Mon-Fri from about 9-3pm every day. It’s a fun job, I enjoy it, but my main gripe is with this mandatory meeting that is going to occur today.
The meeting is in-person, mandatory, and hosted at my bosses house in which we will not be paid. Thankfully, I live a 3 minute walk from my bosses house, but there are multiple co-workers who live 45+ minutes away who are expected to make the drive (and ultimately receive no compensation for doing so). Last year the meeting ran from 2:30-5:30 pm and we were not compensated for our time; instead, he and the other boss purchased pizzas for us (wow, thanks so much /s). The meeting consists of CPR training and other miscellaneous stuff regarding the camps for the summer.
I did a little research and realized this practice is illegal in the state of Massachusetts (and pretty much everywhere in the U.S.). Myself and my co-workers are not salaried, so employers must pay us for our time if the meeting is mandatory (I have it in writing via email stating that the meeting is mandatory).
How should I go about this scenario? I have a fairly good relationship with my boss and he pays me well by my standards (~$20 an hour), so I don’t want to jeopardize any of that. I feel confronting him on this (especially when we live in the same neighborhood) would be quite awkward and could damage our relationship. I also would not want to see a decrease in the amount of hours I work if I was to confront him and my other boss on this. I’ve shared these feelings with four other co-workers, but the other 25-26 that will be at the meeting are unaware we won’t be paid. Should I submit an anonymous tip or something? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.