Hello, Everyone. Up until recently, I have worked at Shari's Cafe and Pies for little over a year now until today. I had walked in, let the manager know my update with her about me seeking new work (it wasn't a two weeks notice so much as a heads up a month ago that I'll be starting to look for another job) and I told her that today I would no longer be working for the company. She took that sorta well but the next part caught me by surprise.
I asked for my tips (4 days worth) and she declined me, she said that I was abandoning the job and therefore I cannot claim tips. I was having none of it and kept demanding my tips that I had worked for but she kept firm on her end and said I was no longer entitled to them because of her claims. So I said I wouldn't be leaving until I had gotten them. She threatened to call the police and I encouraged her to do so because I wasn't leaving until I had to be escorted out and I was. The officer came, took both our statements and sided with me, but claimed there was nothing he could do to help and that I had to leave the property. So now I'm trying to figure out my next move here and need your help my fellow redditors.
To give some insight on the nature of what's my beef with this manager. She has singlehandedly caused our staff to diminish greatly in such a short amount of time, I'm talking from roughly 20 members down to 14 running a diner alone. People are often asked to do double shifts, work six days week, the whole shabang. I myself was doing 6-day weeks (including one double shift) and felt so defeated by the end of it. With only one day off and not feeling it anymore, that's why I felt like quitting by the end of nearly a month of hard yet unappreciated labor.
I had looked up what “Job Abandonment” meant and just like most other things she was lying to me. It means not coming into work and not calling or notifying the employer about my intentions on quitting, well because I had the police come to escort me the day of quitting, its now on record I was present during my termination, so I want to get petty revenge on her. She's trying to keep my wages to herself and I have no doubt she'll pocket the money, she's pocketed tips before while working with servers, claiming tables of her own while working with staff and I know this because she said it directly to me when before we were on “better' terms and she tried to convince me to change roles into being a server, claiming she made “$500” in tips one of the Sundays before. She told me to contact HR about my tips, but I want to go to The Department of Labor instead. The thing is, I don't know what my options entirely are or where I should start on this whole thing now. I feel petty but I hate bullies getting their way too, I want to do right by my heart and not let her slide this easily and get away with stealing from me. Thank you for reading, i appreciate having somewhere to rant about this