Hey All,
So I started working at this smoke shop part time while I'm finishing up my degree online. After some negotiating I was hired on at $14/hr. When I was offered the job I was warned that I wasn't allowed to discuss wages with fellow employees. There are two owners of this business that also co-own some gas stations. The owner I am in contact with most often is on vacation in Pakistan so the other owner has been handling things recently.
The co-owner calls me on my off day randomly and asks me how much I get paid. I thought he probably should have been able to figure that out on his own, but regardless I told him my pay rate and then says oh ok I thought it was $10/hr. I laugh and say yep definitely not. He then proceeds to warn me multiple times not to discuss wages seemingly out of the blue. I avoided giving him a yes and we ended the call.
Then it's my work day and he calls me early in the morning before my shift to ask me if I've discussed wages. I was confused and wasn't sure why he was calling. I head to work and eventually I see the co-owner in person and he asks me when the manager shows up. I tell him he doesn't work today. Then he proceeds to tell me AGAIN not to discuss wages. At this point I'm getting annoyed.
I go home for the day. The co-owner calls me AGAIN after my shift. He asks me for the 3rd time in a two days if I discussed wages. At this point I had it. I told him respectfully, but firmly that discussing wages is a federally protected employee right. The co-owner angrily replies “I know!”. Then he explains how he accidently sent a fax of my paycheck to the smoke shop and how the manager saw it then got upset. I asked why would he be upset to see my pay? It's because they're paying him $13/hr AS A MANAGER. I proceed to ask him why have you been constantly asking me about discussing wages if you knew how he found out was your mistake? To which he didn't have much of a reply.
Then the co-owner asks me if I would lie for him and tell the manager I was asking for a cash advance on an apartment. Firstly, I'm mortgaging a house and I've told my manager that before so that was just a not well thought out lie. So I told the co-owner no I wasn't willing to lie for his mistake.
I come into work today and talk to the manager. He tells me he's quitting and he's pissed they've been lying to him. Rightfully so. The co-owner comes by to tell me the owners and I are going to have a talk when he gets back from vacation. I ask him what about and he refused to give me the reason. Seems to me they're planning to reprimand me.
Also our employees recently discovered the owners have been audio recording us without our consent which has many of us upset.
Thanks to the great resources and advice from this sub I'm already planning to let them fire me(not quit) and report them to the labor board. I've been trying to collect proof since they have mostly warned me verbally. So I'm gonna try to get it in writing or recording.