Hello everyone! I’m using a throwaway account for this because I’m intimidated by the prospect of finally doing something about the veritable minefield of red flags and illegal behavior at this job.
Some context: I was never legally employed by this job. I was young and stupid and didn’t think much of a job that never had any legal documents signed and paid me under the table because I needed the money. I live in Maryland, and at the time of this story I was 16 years old. I stopped working there at the beginning of the school year, but am still apparently employed as the owner has been harassing me in person to take up some shifts.
Now, let’s get into it. This job sucked. Thinking back on it now, I’m not sure many of the things they had me do would be legal even if I had been legally employed. I worked there for two and a half months, but due to the sheer amount of things that I don’t think were legal at all, I’ll just give a highlight reel. The stories I’ll tell are Overtime From Hell, The Drain-O Story, and Union Busting Lite.
First, Overtime From Hell. I’ll set the scene. It was Father’s Day 2023, our little cafe was swamped. This was still very recently after the cafe had opened and I, as their first employee, had worked the opening shift to field the breakfast and lunch crowds. My replacement came in just as the dinner rush hit, and we were slammed. My boss, also working to field these orders, forced me to stay overtime to help. This wasn’t normal overtime, though, it wasn’t one or two or three hours as I had expected. No, when the chef finally stood up for me and the boss let me leave, it had been five hours past the end of my shift. The next day, I could barely stand as I was so exhausted and the extra hours had caused my chronic pain to flare up horribly.
Next is the crowning jewel of probably illegal things the boss had me do, the one that left permanent scars, The Drain-O Story. Disaster had struck the kitchen. In a fit of disgruntled stupidity and rage at the landlord, the tenant of the apartment upstairs had shoved towels, gloves, and shirts down their drains and clogged the drainage to the entire building. As such, the drains in the kitchen- in the floors and sinks- were not draining, and we were standing in about half an inch of water (it is important to know at this point that we were still serving food out of the kitchen. Disgusting). Instead of calling a plumber or a professional, the boss had the bright idea to get industrial grade Drain-O from a friend. Now, friends, I don’t care what problem you have, but Drain-O is not the answer. The boss poured the demon fluid down the drains, and all seemed fine for a moment. Then, all hell broke loose. The Drain-O began flooding up out of the drains, joining the water on the floor and raising the water levels in the kitchen another quarter inch. The kitchen was evacuated, but did we close? Despite all knowledge and sense, the boss did not close the cafe. Instead, his solution was to send me- clad in combat boots and long pants- to mop up the water and Drain-O in the kitchen with no safety gear whatsoever. I dutifully cleaned up the entire mess, the whole thing taking upwards of an hour to clear up completely. I mentioned being nauseous and lightheaded to my boss, who suggested a small break before I continued cleaning up. The Drain-O caked into my boots, jacket and splashed onto my hands as I cleaned. To this day, the mild chemical burns from this particular fiasco make patches of the skin of my hands scaly and painful when it’s too dry outside, not to be soothed by aquaphor or lotions.
Lastly, my final act of defiance at this job, organizing. I had finally become fed up with the pay- $10/hr with no tips- and I had finally worked out a solution to being continuously brushed off and ignored by the boss when I brought it up. I began to talk to my coworkers about organizing to get us all better pay. One of them was skittish about this, however, and must have told the boss what I was doing. I don’t think it was a coincidence that I, their longest-running employee, mysteriously stopped being scheduled only days after I began bringing up organizing. This was about four and a half months ago, the boss paid me an extra $20 for risking my health.
Now, apparently they have taken me off the blacklist, because my boss has begun approaching me in person when I walk past the cafe to ask when I’m going to start picking up shifts again. I wasn’t even aware I was still working there! It has become a nuisance, especially because I am very often on the same street as the cafe with my friends, so the boss has plenty of opportunity to come up to me and start borderline harassing me. He still hasn’t even paid me for the last shift I worked!
Is there anything I can legally do about this? I’ve told him to leave me alone, and he listens sometimes, but I’m also worried about the conditions of that job and the people that work there currently. It is a small business, so I know the current employees are hesitant about doing anything about it, but it’s simply inhumane. Thank you all for reading, I hope you all can help me with this awful situation.