Started at my job 12 years ago. It paid well above minimum wage, and at the time cared more about employees than profits. New CEO comes in, and is more profit driven. Signs a government contract at 167/3 years, and goes to local paper saying “we're excited to create new minimum wage jobs.” COVID happens, we started working from home, and he started hiring employees from other states below our state's minimum wage. (Company is located on a reservation in the PNW so they like to flip between state and federal law, whatever benefits them most.)
Board of directors all get new toys and houses. He sends his 2 of his 3 kids to Harvard, buys them all Teslas, and hires his wife as the company “nurse” at 110k a year. She handed out health pamphlets and packets of ibuprofen. If you were sick and had to go home, you had to be approved by her before you could. This didn't last very long.
Fast forward to today. Wages are stagnant. CEO says he doesn't increase wages for cost of living. My state's minimum wage has been slowly creeping up to my own wage, and today I get an email saying my wages have increased. They increased to my state's new minimum wage of 15.45.
Why haven't I left this job sooner? Well, I was tending to a family member after COVID started and they were accommodating to scheduling needs. Working from home allowed me to move to a bigger city, but this was recent.
I know there's information in here that if someone from my job actually put the pieces together, they could figure out who I am. If that's the case, tell Billy I said fuck you.