Ok here are the details:

I live in the state of Florida. My boss is the OWNER of the company I work for and they're both terrible. When I was hired I was told that my weekly salary was a SET salary- I signed a paper saying that I made X amount of dollars per week. I was also told that my hours were Monday-Friday 6:30am-3:30pm... However, since working there nothing I was told upon being hired was true... My salary is NOT a SET salary. If I miss a day due to illness or even if there isn't enough work and HE asks ME not to come in- he garnashes my wages. At times I go get to go home early however there have been several times I've stayed until 6:30 or 7pm and get NO extra pay for doing so... He says that it evens itself out... However this information was NOT made privy to me when I was hired. I don't know what to do- he is playing with my money but in this recession, I do need my job. What are my options??

& just to let you know how crappy things really are- upon being hired I was told that I would receive a daily 1.5hr lunch break, however, today was the FIRST day I've ever sat down and had lunch while I've been working there and I've been there nearly 3 months. And that limited time was the 7 minutes it took me to eat my food.

I think that he is racist against black people because he is always making comments in regards to the music I listen too... And I have seen several black people come in for an interview and never get hired. (black men in general) some of which seemed very qualified for the position, but I've also seen him do interviews with Caucasian people and he even speaks to them differently. I know that there has only been ONE black person hired in the 3 years he's been in business (a female college student) & she nolonger works for the company...

What should I do?

Quit. Find a company that treats you better and doesn't say one thing and do something different.

I know how hard jobs are to find, so I will not say quit although in a better time and place I would.

He is working you as an hourly employee and not a salaried employee. That is not illegal for him to do. It is also not illegal to not pay for work not done. You can be salaried an non exempt which means you are hourly being paid in the form of salary.

What is illegal is if you work overtime and are not paid overtime pay. If you work over 40 hour a week than you should be paid overtime for all the hours over 40.

Unfortunately the state of Florida does not have a department of labor, as it was closed by the state of Florida.

Breaks and Lunch periods are not legally required by law so there is nothing you can do. The state of Florida has no Department of Labor and the Federal does not require breaks or lunch periods for anyone over 16.

If you feel you have been discriminated against I would contact the US EEOC office of the U.S. Department of Labor.

If you can prove discrimination you can find an attorney that will take your case on contingency and it will not cost you until the case is resolved and then he will take a portion of the settlement for payment. Discrimination against you because of race or color is illegal and the company can be sued for discrimination.

In addition if you do quit because of discrimination or because you are not being paid all of your wages it would be considered a reason to quit and you would still be allowed to draw your unemployment until you found another job.



Shirley