Opinion: Boss's Treatment of Employees Highlights Why No One Wants To Work

Giant boss sitting in a chair towering over a tiny employee who stands defeated below him.Photo byArtFamily via Shutterstock

“No one wants to work anymore,” cries the ruling class while doing everything they can to siphon more and more away from their employees.

One employee took to Reddit to share the horrendous treatment their boss thought was okay.

Cutting Pay and Taking Tips

The Original Poster (OP) shared that they work at a pizza joint. The boss called everyone in for a “tough conversation” and declared he was cutting everyone’s pay by $3 per hour due to inflation and the pending recession.

But that’s not all. The boss also demanded that all staff tithe 25% of their tips directly to him, and he insisted they come in five minutes early and stay five minutes late, all off-clock, of course, to cover prep and cleaning.

OP Venting

OP wants to be compassionate but thinks the boss's demands are outrageous. They never see the boss eating the food at the pizza parlor, which would be a top choice if they were genuinely starving.

They came to Reddit to vent, but users were appalled at the boss's awful and likely illegal behavior.

That’s Not Legal

Many users said the boss's demands don’t sound legal.

Of course, everything depends on where OP is from, but in the US, forcing employees to work any amount of unpaid time is illegal wage theft. Tipped employees also have no obligation to share tips with a manager unless the manager is also doing tipped work.

“Report this, "insisted that we come 5 minutes early and leave 5 minutes late unpaid to cover prep work and cleaning," to your state's department of labor,” advised one user, pointing to the unpaid labor.

Another discussed the legality of tip sharing. “Employers can receive tips, but they cannot comingle tips with their employees. If they did 50% of a job that was tipped, they get 0% of the tips. If they did 100% of the job, they get 100% of the tips,” they said.

Can They Just Change Your Pay Like That?

The pay cut portion is questionable. In the US, pay cuts are usually legal, especially in at-will employment states. Pay cuts must not be discriminatory or retaliatory and must be implemented equally across the board. In addition, pay can’t be cut below minimum wage.

Many states require some type of advance notice on pay cuts. Laws vary wildly by state. Some require a certain amount of advance notice, while others require written notification and acknowledgment. We need to know where OP lives (they may not even be in the US) to know whether the pay cut was legal.

Report the Employer to the Labor Board

Regardless of whether the pay cut is legal, the other two demands aren’t. OP should report the employer to the Department of Labor and their state’s labor board if they live in the US or the equivalent in their country of residence.

Time for a New Job

OP also needs to look for a new job. Such drastic measures portend severe problems for the business. It sounds like the boss is running the pizza parlor into the ground, and rather than making changes that would increase sales, he’s taking it out on the workers.

What will happen when there’s nothing left to cut?

OP and his colleagues should look for a new job. We don’t imagine the pizza place will survive much longer.

This article was produced and syndicated by Partners in Fire.