Another Legal Question (Employment)

Alluveal · Post by **Alluveal** » Fri Dec 23, 2011 9:45 pm

So my husband is really struggling where he works (assistant manager at a restaurant/bar). We're both fairly convinced that his employer is trying to compel him to quit.

They've cut his hours from 5 days a week to 2 (sometimes 3). The reason? "We are overstaffed."

Yet, they hired two new bartenders to do exactly what he had been doing before. Same wage, only now they're paying for 2 more people. (two women that the GM "knows" and wanted to hire - translate, he's boinking them both--and he's a married dude. Yes, he told my husband that he's "fooling around" with them.)

The General manager repeatedly screws him over. If my husband works from 10am until 6pm, the guy usually doesn't show up on time. We're talking 1-2 hours late. Excuses range from, "I'm out with a girl," to "I want to finish watching the football game." (FYI: My husband works at a Sports Bar where anyone could watch any game).

The head bartender gives away around 300-400$ in drinks a night (mostly to women). Other customers have started to complain. He's also paid 2X what my husband makes PLUS tips. He comes into work drunk, has driven home drunk a few times, is belligerent to staff who doesn't either drink WITH him or turn a blind eye to it. Yet, he stays because he's really good friends with the owner. When my husband brought this up, he was told to "leave it alone." So, guy who gives away more money in a night (in potential liquor sales) than my husband is earning in a week . . . well . . . you figure out the gross-mismanagement.

When his days were being cut back, he asked if he should be worried about his job. The owner wouldn't even look him in the eye and changed the subject. He just kept saying, "we're doing what we need to for the company."

Christmas bonuses came tonight and everyone (from the girl who works 1 day a week serving food to the cooks in the back and the other assistant managers) got $100. My husband got $25. The reason given? "It depends on the position/duties." A lie, right to his face. Everyone (and I mean everyone) got $100.

Today, the guy in charge of marketing emailed me to ask for all the materials I'd done (digital copies). I've been doing marketing, promotional materials for them (for FREE) to build up my portfolio. They need a change, I do it within an hour. Easy stuff. Now, they want everything from me.

Finally . . .
The kicker? My husband was injured on the job. He got a concussion when a faulty ceiling/roof window collapsed on his head when he was examining a leak. Suddenly, the owner and the GM were jittery and weird, and being super nice to him, saying things like, "wow, this won't be good for our workman's comp. insurance." My husband, being who he is, told the ER person not to put it under workman's comp. He was afraid if he put it under workman's comp, they'd fire him or cut him down to no hours. He works his ass off to try and "be perfect," for fear of any little thing getting him fired. He's so stressed out that he's been prescribed anti-anxiety medication.

A few things . . .

Yes, he's looking for a job elsewhere. He's desperate to find employment, but he can't get fired now, not until he gets a new job. The job market sucks. He gets to the 2nd interview and is a "final candidate," but nothing yet.

I there anything we can do? I told him not to quit, but let's say they drop his hours to like 1 day per week and then to nothing, not officially "firing" him, but hoping he'll quit so they don't have to pay unemployment?

Ideas? Thoughts?

Freecare Spiritwise · Fri Dec 23, 2011 10:41 pm

My thought is that he absolutely has to stay positive and focused on finding that new job. He can't let even a teeny tiny bit of all that negative stuff at his current job distract him from the prize, which is the new job. And I would be very careful to keep a positive spin on the current job to any potential employer. As far as a potential employer is concerned the current job is a great job but they're just down-sizing.

As far as the current job, I'd say keep that if at all possible. Some hours are better than no hours, eh? But sometimes a moral victory of ending a bad relationship and focusing on a new one is worth the temporary loss of the 2nd income. Only you can decide that. But at the current job I'd even say try to put a positive spin on that as much as possible. Maybe even try to mend fences get back in their good graces just long enough to find a new job. Attitude is everything.

Post by **Ddrak** » Fri Dec 23, 2011 11:27 pm

First of all, never let him not claim a legit worker's comp expense again - it's the reason the company has insurance, and isn't screwing the company at all by claiming it. This goes double for head injuries that could have hidden side effects.

To the actual question, Free basically covered it. He's a casual employee so there's nothing much he can do about having his hours cut. If he wanted to be vindictive, he could rat out the boss's "fooling around" to his wife but that's a pretty dangerous game and could blow up in all sorts of directions. The whole place is pretty toxic (and probably gonna go bankrupt in the long term) so you just put a wall up between what's going on and yourself and look for that other job.

Stay positive!

Dd

Turaylon Soulshadow · Post by **Turaylon Soulshadow** » Sat Dec 24, 2011 9:16 am

Alluveal wrote:So my husband is really struggling where he works (assistant manager at a restaurant/bar). We're both fairly convinced that his employer is trying to compel him to quit.

They've cut his hours from 5 days a week to 2 (sometimes 3). The reason? "We are overstaffed."

Yet, they hired two new bartenders to do exactly what he had been doing before. Same wage, only now they're paying for 2 more people. (two women that the GM "knows" and wanted to hire - translate, he's boinking them both--and he's a married dude. Yes, he told my husband that he's "fooling around" with them.)

The General manager repeatedly screws him over. If my husband works from 10am until 6pm, the guy usually doesn't show up on time. We're talking 1-2 hours late. Excuses range from, "I'm out with a girl," to "I want to finish watching the football game." (FYI: My husband works at a Sports Bar where anyone could watch any game).

The head bartender gives away around 300-400$ in drinks a night (mostly to women). Other customers have started to complain. He's also paid 2X what my husband makes PLUS tips. He comes into work drunk, has driven home drunk a few times, is belligerent to staff who doesn't either drink WITH him or turn a blind eye to it. Yet, he stays because he's really good friends with the owner. When my husband brought this up, he was told to "leave it alone." So, guy who gives away more money in a night (in potential liquor sales) than my husband is earning in a week . . . well . . . you figure out the gross-mismanagement.

When his days were being cut back, he asked if he should be worried about his job. The owner wouldn't even look him in the eye and changed the subject. He just kept saying, "we're doing what we need to for the company."

Christmas bonuses came tonight and everyone (from the girl who works 1 day a week serving food to the cooks in the back and the other assistant managers) got $100. My husband got $25. The reason given? "It depends on the position/duties." A lie, right to his face. Everyone (and I mean everyone) got $100.

Today, the guy in charge of marketing emailed me to ask for all the materials I'd done (digital copies). I've been doing marketing, promotional materials for them (for FREE) to build up my portfolio. They need a change, I do it within an hour. Easy stuff. Now, they want everything from me.

Finally . . .
The kicker? My husband was injured on the job. He got a concussion when a faulty ceiling/roof window collapsed on his head when he was examining a leak. Suddenly, the owner and the GM were jittery and weird, and being super nice to him, saying things like, "wow, this won't be good for our workman's comp. insurance." My husband, being who he is, told the ER person not to put it under workman's comp. He was afraid if he put it under workman's comp, they'd fire him or cut him down to no hours. He works his ass off to try and "be perfect," for fear of any little thing getting him fired. He's so stressed out that he's been prescribed anti-anxiety medication.

A few things . . .

Yes, he's looking for a job elsewhere. He's desperate to find employment, but he can't get fired now, not until he gets a new job. The job market sucks. He gets to the 2nd interview and is a "final candidate," but nothing yet.

I there anything we can do? I told him not to quit, but let's say they drop his hours to like 1 day per week and then to nothing, not officially "firing" him, but hoping he'll quit so they don't have to pay unemployment?

Ideas? Thoughts?

Getting fired right now may be better than only working 2-3 days a week, depending on what unemployment will pay out (does Colorado have unemployment?). It sounds like a clear-cut case for the labor board to get involved (not sure if you have one of those, either). Is it an independent place or something that's part of a chain like a Maggie McFly's?

How long ago was he injured? If he goes to workman's comp and they fire him it's a pretty easy case for him to win in court if he sues (again, at least that's how it works around here). I'd have to do some research on the labor laws out there, unless you have material handy that you can link. Was he hired as full time or part time? How many other people have the same job title that he does? Is it on the books? (Dumb question I know since you mentioned WC, but always good to ask to be sure).

After some quick poking around... http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/CD ... 0336821467 ...not sure how familiar you are with it, but it seems like a grievance could be in order. I've never experienced anything like this in a restaurant/bar scenario because everyone around here doing that gets paid under the table, but all the same things should apply.

Turaylon Soulshadow · Post by **Turaylon Soulshadow** » Sat Dec 24, 2011 9:23 am

After some more reading, the labor division can't really help, but from reading what you posted it's a definite discrimination case. It's a tougher case because he's a man, but totally legitimate- http://www.dora.state.co.us/civil-rights/ .

In my experiences where an employer was being a shithead and doing things the complete wrong way, trying to keep on the positive side lead to me being out of a job anyway when the place closed down (I've only ever worked in factories where people kept trying to cut corners and put out shit products/ignored safety hazards). Then again, I'm HORRIBLE when dealing with people, so Free and Dd's advice may be better, but I always look towards the bad side of things and prepare for the worst so when someone does cross the line they get what's coming to them.

Fallakin Kuvari · Post by **Fallakin Kuvari** » Sat Dec 24, 2011 4:27 pm

And, this should be obvious, don't give them digital copies of anything you've made for them previously at no cost without charging them for all the work you put into it. That's your Intellectual Property.

Alluveal · Post by **Alluveal** » Sat Dec 24, 2011 5:40 pm

I had to LOL at my husband's email today. He said he went in to open today and the "red books" (Journals the managers/assistant managers keep of issues/problems, etc) were all gone. Fortunately, my husband had made copies of everything in those books that he brought to someone's attention--things that were wholly ignored. Things like:

1. Bartender and staff drinking on the job.
2. People standing around doing nothing.
3. People leaving w/o doing side work.

(A whole list of shit). Stuff that he always brought up in meetings and was told, "don't sweat the LITTLE stuff."

Today, he gets in, sees the books missing (there is apparently an investor meeting), and the GM had written a note that he posted on the wall stating that employees were sitting at the bar, drinking on the job, and that he "gave up" because he felt like he didn't have any support from the other "managers." (LOL worthy)

The funny part? The GM (aka douche-lord) closed last night and has been reaming all the other managers about what a shitty job they do closing. My husband found dried vomit in the ladies' bathroom this morning. So, he put it in the new red book, copied it for himself and lol'ed a bit.

It's night after night. It's almost FUNNY now. I told him to document every motherfucking thing like this. I don't know what it might be good for, but hey, you never know.

Turaylon Soulshadow · Post by **Turaylon Soulshadow** » Sat Dec 24, 2011 5:51 pm

Wait wait wait wait...they have investors??? Do any of them actually work in the place? What's their relationship like with the people screwing your husband over? I'm assuming 'no' and 'not too great' if the other managers had to hide the books. Maybe he should talk to them.

Alluveal · Post by **Alluveal** » Sat Dec 24, 2011 8:53 pm

Yeah, investors. None work in the restaurant. And my husband actually gets along okay with the investors.

More to add that really made me shake my head. My husband said one of the hostesses came up to him tonight and said, "I don't want to work New Year's Eve with the owner. He's always asking me to go out, makes comments about how "big" his bed is, sends me quite a few texts (all of which she has saved), etc." LOL.

My husband was like, "okay, don't worry about coming in New Year's Eve. I'll talk to the owner about it." Then he had the hostess write down what she told him and sign it (which she did).

So, yeah . . . wow. Just wow.

Kulaf · Post by **Kulaf** » Sun Dec 25, 2011 4:09 am

You can quit a job and still receive unemployment benefits in most states if the employer creates a hostile work environment......which sounds like it is occuring. In WA, if you quit your job you put in a written statement as to why, and why you should be eligible for benefits. Your employer gets a chance to respond to your claims, and then you get the final response. The state then makes the decesion.

You and your husband just need to make the call on how little he will take and put up with all the BS, or take your chances with unemployment.

Post by **Ddrak** » Sun Dec 25, 2011 8:22 am

Oh yeah - forgot the part Fallakin mentioned. You should absolutely send them a note saying you're willing to discuss licensing terms for the work you've done - probably even include starting prices (assume your time as a designer is around $200/hr sell price and work from there). It should be very clear that it's your IP and the work was a one-off free license at the time which can't be used for any derivative works without your consent (and the exchange of money). The fact you weren't paid and weren't in an employer/employee relationship makes everything wildly on your side in that case - especially if they actually decide to go and use your stuff without permission.

I don't really know what to suggest for your husband. Keeping everything documented and in writing is essential. Diaries and notes are blindingly strong evidence in any sort of legal action. Remember also that in any sort of legal action the only ones that truly win are the lawyers. If he has iron-clad stuff on paper, he's probably better just fronting up to the GM with it and not-quite-blackmailing him into a decent payout to just leave the company and keep quiet. That way he gets out of a shitty job with a decent payout and they eliminate a "problem" to their fucked up business model. Of course, that means he needs another job to go to.

A possible option is to see if the GM has any friends in other bars that might give your husband a job. If they are really trying to "drive him out" then they should jump at the suggestion? Remember, most jobs are found by who you know and not what you know so use any sort of networking you can. Even the girl he helped get out of the New Year shift may have someone she knows that could help. You might have someone you know that knows someone. You get the idea...

Dd

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