Employer (let’s call her Nancy) hired me and I started in July, I was being interviewed for the back position making cakes and desserts. On the application she said $12-14 per hour. At the interview she said $12-13 per hour. When I started, she told me I would only be making $11.50. Not only that, but she put me in the front promising that she would put me in the back after I got used to being in the front. She was nice to me for about a week and then I noticed a change. She progressively got ruder and meaner. I would ask her a simple question and she would get really mad, even on my first month there. One time, month or two later, we were really busy and someone in the back asked me to help load up the case up front. She came in the back and got really mad that I was helping her. She told me to go up front and do something. And then immediately after told me to do something else instead. She kept giving me different tasks and I was running around doing things for her, even though we were very busy. She was very mad I had helped in the back, which is weird to me because that’s the job I was supposed to be hired for. Around that time, she pulled me into her office and very angrily told me that I was not hired for the back position (which was on the application) and that I was hired for the front. A couple hours after that she called me into the back and told me to make a birthday cake. I started making one and she stopped me after 10 minutes and she said “obviously you have a lot to learn and I don’t have time to train you but you have potential.” I know I didn’t do that well, I don’t do tests well and i was extremely stressed out and anxious. Which is actually how I feel almost every shift or when I am around her. Fast forward a few months and I had noticed that I haven’t gotten any money from the tip jar, I asked my coworkers and they said that they had been getting theirs. I confronted Nancy in front of my coworkers asking about my tip money. She tried to tell me that I haven’t been working full work weeks recently while everyone else had been there 5-6 days a week. This is true, I have been dealing with a lot of health problems and she knows that because I told her. So I asked her, “so I don’t get my tip money?” and she said “oh no of course, you will get the tip money you deserve.” She did end up giving me money but I don’t think it was the full amount. Nancy gave me $27 for the last few months and $17 for that month. Shortly after this she randomly moved me to a back position promising me more pay. I have been working hard and doing well in this position, even Nancy brother (who also works there) has given me high praise for my work. She has been extremely nit picky about all of my work, even though no one else has a problem with it. This week I tried to eat something near the beginning of my shift that I bought from the store itself, and she came back to me raging saying that since I only am working a 4 hour shift I don’t get a break. I tried to explain to her that I felt weak and hadn’t eaten since the previous morning and she said that it was my responsibility to eat before I came in. I felt miserable and like I was going to faint my whole shift. I have a history of really low blood pressure. I have been in this position for 2 weeks, I got my paycheck and it said I was still only making $11.50. I confronted her yesterday and she told me she didn’t say she was giving me a raise and that she would “remember” if she had said that. She got very angry about it.
What should I do? I have proof of the application and paystubs. I need this job because of my declining health and there aren’t many decent jobs near me, but it’s extremely stressful.
TLDR: Employer is scamming me. Promised different pay than what is received and is very stressful to be around. Withheld tip money.