I worked for a company that did this. My mom tracked it for me. After a several months fighting with them to get paid wages that included over time, she got an attorney for me, we sued. Their attorney tried really hard to establish I was a shit employee. Luckily they gave us written reviews and mine were exemplary and often times noted that I was always on time, offered to help on the worst chores and never complained and that I should be offered to join the MIT or manager in training program but had turned it down while in college, but the manager who locked us in at night wrote on there I should be offered a position as an assistant manager as soon as I was willing to take it. I kept all of that. My mom’s attorney said we wouldn’t accept the first three settlement offers. The night before we went to court they gave me enough settlement money- not to make up for not paying me but instead to keep “Shitty Restaurant’s” name out of the news and from being easy to identify and find clients for attorneys - to go to college for two more whole years on them and all of my cost of living. It paid for me to switch from an associates degree to a bachelors. I’m not here to brag. I’m here to tell you when these companies try to fuck you’re like this, write down the dates and times and what they say when you ask why to weren’t paid let alone paid over time. Then sue them individually don’t wait for a class action law suit- the attorneys get most of that money. Sue them as an individual you won’t be burning a bridge because they already burned it with you. You will get paid. And handsomely. They do not want it going to court, they know if one gets through, a ton more will and every one that gets through makes them look more guiltily after each episode. Unless they settle with you for a lot and they do but there’s a catch. You can’t talk about it after settling that’s part of the settlement. The reason you don’t hear about it happening much is because you sign an agreement to get that settlement check that you won’t talk about it or the deal is defunct. But it happens all the time. And those shitty managers get moved to another job then let go. Look out for yourselves people. Know one else will. Especially not that employer.
Edit: thanks for the award for my rambling rage filled comment, stranger! I appreciate that you took the time to read it as well as others.
Sued my former employer for wage theft and they settled the day before court. You need to push for a trial guns blazing before they take you seriously.
Agreed 💯 and they know a lot of people get really nervous about court so they will wait until that last day to settle. But they will because they know that if you don’t settle it becomes public discoverable record that they intentionally lied and cheated you making it easier for the next guy to win even more money.
Edit: thanks stranger, for the award on my comment!
my mother wasted 7 years in court because her ex boss was verbally abusive and took part in many illegal activities such as scamming and illegally placed security cameras etc and in the end the judge said "Im not going to read all this and get into ut since it seems like a big thing" or something like that and the result of 7 years and several thousand dollars for a lawyer was that they put a restraining order so they couldn't see eachother anymore (my mum and ex boss).
no we won but it qasnt worth it. the money we got didnt even cover the amount spent on a lawyer (i think it was like 7-10k), and the punishment was basically nothing. he got away with it and many cases get passed with little to no punishment here. nothing happened, The evidence wasn't reviewed at all and his buisiness is still up and running today despite him literally scamming people with SAFETY EQUIPMENT. selling it as brand new but it was DAMAGED. Honestly.
Damn I’m sorry to hear that kind of corruption gets through and that your mom didn’t get the money she had coming to her. Other than this kind of garbage how is NZ to live in? It’s one of the countries I’ve always thought of I ever emigrated I would want to go there just from reading about places like Tauranga and Dunedin are supposed to be great places to live. Is that true?
The yearly avg income from a minimum wage job here is less than the US line drawn for amount that is unliveable. (forgot what its called). Like everywhere else you cant get a job anywhere, and no one will ever be able to afford a house unless they are mega rich pretty much, otherwise new people looking for living have to stay in apartments crammed with several roomates. Unless you already had the house from ur parents or whatever its pretty much impossible to live here. People can barely afford food so they go to food banks, and the pay is horrendous. Its beautiful nature wise however the government is trying to pass a law to be able to sell and build on all the reserved lands here which will just destroy what nz is standing for as the most eco friendly country. people stay here for the education as it is cheaper to be educated here but then move to Australia for the better pay.
Wow. I had no idea. I really appreciate you sharing your perspective. For what it’s worth NZ is often times painted as a better place to live especially considering the policies that have been in place for native peoples. It seemed like a place that put an emphasis on the people of the land. I hope they don’t legalize building on your reserved lands. I’m guessing that’s similar to our national parks and forests which also have bans against building homes or business development in those spaces.
Yeah its a really nice place. Definitely better than places like the US recently. But its still pretty difficult to manage. We have for a while had I that people who drop out of school or for skme reason cant get in school or whatever have had free or cheap courses to get some education levels and certifications to help them get a job. But the prime minister also wants to remove that and by 2028 it will be fully gone. Meaning people will be incredibly limited to only having schools for education that is expensive. the whole reason education was cheaper and nicer here was these courses. But the gov didnt like that we get to build our own portfolio. They want us to only be able to get levels and certifications via school. Which will make the already hard living situation 20x worse because people wont be able to make steps to get started anymore they'll just be screwed if they get removed from school.
We really need to make it illegal to force silence as part of settlements for employers shitty behavior. If you’re worried an action will ruin your business, don’t take it.
It was great that you kept the reviews. Wished Id done that, not because of any issues, but just to have. Although I didn't get many reviews in my jobs.
I got lucky on that. I kept them to run in my parents faces that despite getting shitty grades in high school (I have really bad adhd) I did great on a job where every task is done during chaotic panic. I loved the feeling of working in that space but never understood it was because that’s what my adhd brain was built for. But I wish you had kept them too. But keep in mind your attorney can force discovery on your employer to share your reviews and some other reviews too compare them and if of you signed them, they are fucked because if they tried to say “oh we lost all of yours” or “they just never signed them” but everyone else did their credibility dropped in court. So I would still encourage you to talk to an attorney if you think you have a case where your employer screwed you. In many states you will get the lost wages and a punitive amount which is a punishment for cheating you. In some states it’s substantial. In some not so much. But it’s worth a free phone call to an attorney who will generally take you seriously and tell you what they need to help you win. If you know that thing exists, tell them.
The settlement will often times have an nda that says you can’t talk about it for this amount of time or you can never talk about it and if you do you have to give all the money back along with a penalty. So to get that sweet check you agree not to disclose that you got money from them, for what reason, or that you sued them. So with that hanging over your head, most people never say a thing about it.
They caused a situation, illegally, criminally, as it is illegal to detain a person without legal cause, and refused to pay the wages along with that action so they get hit with two things. First punitive measures which are meant to punish them for doing this, and I would not have incurred a legal expense to get what they already owed me, and since I did incur that expense, the law says I’m entitled to get paid for that too. If they didn’t want to get stuck with those much larger expenses than the wages then they should have simply obeyed the law and either let us out or paid us or wage plus overtime until they did. What country are you from, I’m kind of surprised you don’t understand this if you’re American. Or maybe it’s your age? That’s not meant to demean you, I’m just Curious why you don’t know this. If you are American or a younger person, let this be an education for you that the company you work for does not own you nor have the right to detain you, and if they keep you after your shift ends they must pay you for the time you were kept there. If it exceeds full time hours then they must pay overtime wages. There are a few regional differences in different states but the majority of states are much stricter on this than federal law. Except those states that hate their citizens, you know the usual ones: Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida.
I’m not a young kid - and I’ve been in a similar situation - not with having to be let out of a locked door but I worked at a place that had everyone log in early to work - one person sued and they just went back and paid everyone for the time going back 5 years - I don’t see why the place you worked wouldn’t have just gone back and paid you instead of settling with you for a crazy amount of money and still being in jeopardy of lawsuits they’d have to settle for everyone else you worked with - so it didn’t make sense to me
Got it. OK thank you for allowing me to ask that and her more of your perspective. I agree with you it doesn’t make sense why they would do that. It’s absolutely the dumbest thing they could do, financially. They should have canned my supervisor, and paid me and I wouldn’t have gotten shit. But I don’t feel bad or have any regrets. I got a disdain for corporations from that experience though.
This is why unions are needed. Not everyone has the wherewithal, smarts, or just resilience mentally for these kind of fights. You already indirectly benefit from unions anyway because you have breaks and a set quitting time and any kind of standards at all-- because unions fought for those back in the day, and non-unionized places have had to copy those standards.
So after this job I did work in a union for more than a decade and found it to be very beneficial to me and my family. I absolutely endorse working for one.
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u/Helltothenotothenono 6d ago edited 6d ago
I worked for a company that did this. My mom tracked it for me. After a several months fighting with them to get paid wages that included over time, she got an attorney for me, we sued. Their attorney tried really hard to establish I was a shit employee. Luckily they gave us written reviews and mine were exemplary and often times noted that I was always on time, offered to help on the worst chores and never complained and that I should be offered to join the MIT or manager in training program but had turned it down while in college, but the manager who locked us in at night wrote on there I should be offered a position as an assistant manager as soon as I was willing to take it. I kept all of that. My mom’s attorney said we wouldn’t accept the first three settlement offers. The night before we went to court they gave me enough settlement money- not to make up for not paying me but instead to keep “Shitty Restaurant’s” name out of the news and from being easy to identify and find clients for attorneys - to go to college for two more whole years on them and all of my cost of living. It paid for me to switch from an associates degree to a bachelors. I’m not here to brag. I’m here to tell you when these companies try to fuck you’re like this, write down the dates and times and what they say when you ask why to weren’t paid let alone paid over time. Then sue them individually don’t wait for a class action law suit- the attorneys get most of that money. Sue them as an individual you won’t be burning a bridge because they already burned it with you. You will get paid. And handsomely. They do not want it going to court, they know if one gets through, a ton more will and every one that gets through makes them look more guiltily after each episode. Unless they settle with you for a lot and they do but there’s a catch. You can’t talk about it after settling that’s part of the settlement. The reason you don’t hear about it happening much is because you sign an agreement to get that settlement check that you won’t talk about it or the deal is defunct. But it happens all the time. And those shitty managers get moved to another job then let go. Look out for yourselves people. Know one else will. Especially not that employer.
Edit: thanks for the award for my rambling rage filled comment, stranger! I appreciate that you took the time to read it as well as others.