I joined this start up business with the hopes that it would become something beautiful. That lasted very little. My passion project has gone from something I'm proud of to a hellish nightmare. At the end of the day, I'm a writer at heart. So I'll do what I do best: write.
Around the middle of May I left my corporate job to go help a local small business get their feet on the ground. It was a local game shop, and as an avid card player and nerd I felt like it was a match made in heaven. The workplace was fun and lighthearted, I worked outside of my scheduled times and came in when the folks scheduled were feeling particularly overwhelmed and I did it all with a smile. The shop had a stable influx of regulars who I all loved and enjoyed being around. Genuinely- for the first couple months this place was perfect.
Except the last month everything has gone to hell. Between a manager that is incapable (who I later found out the CEO only promoted due to age) and the increase of illicit activity, I'm at my wits end. I got sat down and told that my hours would go from Tue-Sat to only Friday. Not only that, they are paying us late and most of our checks look 100+ dollars shorter than what we worked.
We are listed as 1099 contractors, which I now realize seems to be a misclassification in accordance to my state laws. My CEO openly has stated the reason for this is because he does not want to pay his share of the insurance nor does he want to give us benefits. We are not hired to do individualized and specialized tasks for the company, we are treated as employees and by the book, we are employees.
One CEO is also open about evading taxes, claiming he hasn't paid in year's, encouraging his own employees to dodge taxes if they have issues with doing taxes under a 1099.
Not only that- they just cut everyone else's hour's without notification. My coworkers were not notified (and neither was I when they cut my hours) and now they're panicking to make ends meet. Hell- So am I, I need to see a doctor and get my medications needed to keep effectively doing my job. All loyalty I had for this business is completely gone. Which is a shame, because I love this industry.
At the moment of writing this I have sent off an email to my state's labor board, am currently filling out IRS report forms and contacting any competitive local LGS that will listen. Hopefully this place won't be around much longer.