Troubles at my pizza delivery job...

[Ricardo]

I work at a non chain pizza place as a delivery driver. Lately my boss has been starting to take away privileges we have and beginning to act like an all around dick. I have a few questions about his actions and the legality of them:

Since one employee took five extra minutes on his paid half hour break, my boss decided to not allow us to leave the workplace during our break, and if we do he'll withhold our pay from break... I'm not even sure if a paid half hour break is legally mandatory, but can he really refuse to pay us if we leave?

He did not pay us time and a half on Memorial Day...

Due to a former worker coming into work jammed from painkillers, the boss has threatened and warned us of an upcoming K9 search. I feel he is bluffing, but if the police dogs do show up, is it legal to leave my workplace to refrain from having my car sniffed?


Finally, the other day my boss thought he saw another worker hand something to me and then threatened to, "make me bleed out of every hole in my body", if he found out we were doing drugs... I rose my voice at him and told him not to threaten me, which made him apologize profusely and he tried to tell me he meant he would call the police on me. I know I can't prove he said this and it has already been a few days since it happened, but I would like to know what everyone else would've done in the situation.

[Obs]

What a worthless fuck. I can't really think of much you can do, except maybe spend some spare time trying to get a new job and then getting fired once you've gotten hooked up somewhere. I'm not sure about the law where you are, but given you're somewhere in the U.S., the law's probably on his side - likely even if you could prove he threatened you, since courts tend to have this amazing sympathy for anyone who's a 'small business owner'.

[theblackmask]

As far as most states go, it sounds like he's in the clear with break rules...holiday pay I'm not so sure about.

I'm a big fan of the "lay low and wait for them to fuck up" method when dealing with asshole bosses, but that's just me. If they think that they can get away with that kind of bullshit, they will eventually get lazy and do something ridiculous enough for you to bust them on. It's not a foolproof method, but I have gotten a boss fired by letting him think that he was gonna be able to walk all over me.

[FreeFocus]

Get a small tape recorder to chronicle everything.

Also, I'm pretty sure you're legally entitled to your breaks. I don't believe that pay can be withheld for the time you're on lunch.

[danyboy27]

sound downright illegal, go get information about the labor law of your statr/country.

i know canada is quite different from the u.s but where i am from the governement would sue the shit out of this guy and probably ask him to pay 3 month salary straight has a compensation.

get informed about labor laws and regulation, see if there is any governemental institution you can go to with this shit.

if there is no such thing, well, look for a job and organise something to protest to this bullshit.

[soyonstout]

The first thing to determine is 1.) is he breaking any laws?, the next is 2.) are there enough of you to do something that won't just get you all fired? For example getting customers to agree to sign something saying they'll take their business elsewhere if the workers don't get treated right? Again, DON'T GET YOURSELF FIRED, but is some kind of action a possibility (even if its small)? Do you know drivers at other pizza joints in town, etc. that you can talk to? Unfortunately in a small workplace, in the absence of much class struggle in your area (which if its the US there is a probably not a ton, although it is changing a bit, especially over education), there's sometimes not a lot of power that you have, especially if your boss can find other people. If there were a strike wave in your town or even an important strike going on then you could join up with other workers and have some real power, but I don't know if that's the case where you are, and if you can't spread it to other workers your chances of getting victimized are much higher. So be careful, find out what the laws are, and figure out if there's something you and the other staff can do that won't get you fired. Good luck.

-soyons tout

[bcbm]

you should try to get in touch with labor organizations in your city (see if you have an seiu branch) and talk to them about the situation. they can probably get you in touch with people who know the laws, etc.