First off, let me just say that I know nothing about the law. I have never needed to know anything about the law, and for that I am thankful. But now that I do need to know something about Massachusetts and Federal Labor Laws, I am glad there are people out there who do.
Ok, let me just warn you that this is going to be a long and ridiculous post, because I worked at a ridiculous place. A small privately owned Furniture Company that sells very high end furniture. We are talking 16,000 dollar beds, 5,000 dollar nightstands, 10,000 dollar chests of drawers. High end stuff. And this business is run unlike any other business I have ever heard of. The way wages are made and distributed is bizarre, how people are treated is insane, and overall the entire operation could be illegal… I don’t know. So I am going to relate most or all of it, and see if any of you can help me.
So It begins….
Now the guy that runs this place, let’s call him Mr. X, hires everyone as an “Apprentice Furniture Maker” Now… he claims that after 5 years of working for him you will be a Journeyman. He claims this, but it has never happened because he has never been able to retain an employee for the 5 years it would take to become a Journeyman. But that is neither here nor there; here is the rub… I don’t think the State of Massachusetts recognizes Furniture Maker as an “Apprenticable Activity”.
Basically I know Electricians and Plumbers and other trades have some sort of recognition by the state as Apprentices and Journeymen, and need to get through the Apprenticeship to become an electrician or a plumber… I don’t think that mechanism exists for Furniture Makers. I know Mr. X applied to the state to let him establish a Furniture Makers Apprenticeship, but I believe he was turned down, or the application hasn’t been processed by the State. There was a guy that used to work there that actually looked into it and he said there was no evidence that our Furniture Company was in anyway certified by the State.
Now, looking around the shop one day I did find a packet with this printed on the shop…
“Division of Apprentice Training.
Department of Labor and Workforce Development
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Standards of Apprenticeship
Employer – Program Sponsor
Formulated By:
Mr X
I believe this was his program that he put together that he sent to the State for Approval. But, at the end of the packet where there is a space for the Director of Apprentice Training to sign approval, the signature is missing. I still think he is waiting for the signature.
So that would be Mr. X’s first offense. He tells people he will hire you as an Apprentice, and in 5 years you become a Journeyman, but in actuality, that is probably a lie. But no one has ever stayed employed 5 years to find out.
Once you are hired at this Furniture Shop, this is where the REAL fun begins. You are given two items, a punch card to punch into the time clock, and a timecard where you write how long you worked on certain jobs. You are paid according to your timecard, not punchcard. And he will tell you how many hours to put on your timecard. He will cap you. So, when I first started I worked 8 hours a day, but was only allowed to put 5 hours a day on my timecard. I would only get paid for those 5 hours. The other 3 missing hours were considered “training”.
So on any given week, I would work 40 – 44 hours and get paid for 35 hours. And my hourly rate was minimum wage. I worked 5 – 9 hours for free every week. He claimed this was because of “training” And I never got compensated for training. I complained about this and eventually I was able to record all the hours I actually worked. But this was only at the end. For that majority of my employment he “capped” my pay at 35 hours per week, even though I was working 44. And, BTW, I seldom received any training during those “supposed” training hours.
Now you are probably wondering why we even had punchcards to punch, seeing as we were paid by our doctored timecards. The punchcards were just there to make sure people were coming in on time and leaving on time, seeing as our timecards were so fabricated.
Now, about three months into my employment by Mr X, I had some words for him about the missing hours and some other of the shady economics of the company. So he called me into the showroom to chew me out. He laid out all the papers I had signed when I had started including my “Apprentice Agreement”.
And he starts to chew me out. While he is talking, I take hold of my Apprentice Agreement and read it. According to this agreement, I was only supposed to work uncompensated hours during my “trail period” that was supposed to last 2 months. And here I had been working partially uncompensated for 3 months. So even if it is legal that he has his employees report less time working then they actually work, I have a contract with him stating I wouldn’t work uncompensated hours for him after the two month mark.
So, at this furniture company I was hired as a furniture maker but was soon put into the Varnish room to work as a Varnisher. Now, he had always told everyone Varnishers made more money initially because their training was so little, but their salary capped out quickly.
I was put into the Varnish room because our entire Varnishing Staff quit the same day. I was put in there, but instead of getting paid a Varnisher’s salary I got paid an apprentice furniture makers salary which was working 44 hours a week and only getting paid for 35 hours at minimum wage. He tells me he will hire another Varnisher soon, and it is a temporary situation. Well he hires another guy, and that Varnisher gets fed up with him and quits within two weeks. So for those two weeks I was still in the Varnish Room training him up, I never left the Varnish Room.
And that happened again and again. So here I am stuck in the Varnish Room for like 3 months, getting paid my less then minimum wage for my pretend Apprentice Training that isn’t officially recognized by the State, and Mr. X is kind of a jerk on top of that.
I confront him and tell him how the company is a sham and explain to him why he can never retain employees. That is just a big shady treadmill that hires on false pretexts and may even be in violation of the law. (I don’t know if these things are illegal or not). He and I argue/discuss for a while and he tells me he likes me as a person and that these “discussions” are healthy for the company. The next day we have another “healthy” discussion and he suspends me.
I have no idea what a suspension is. He claims he has never fired an employee. I think he just suspends them until they quit. When I asked him for a reason he said he didn’t feel like talking about it. Literally. He said he “I don’t feel like talking about it” when he suspended me. No reason. He said he would call me on Mon. to talk about it. He didn’t call. I am being stonewalled. If I file for un-employment and I claim I got laid off or fired, he won’t sign the paperwork or something because I quit. He is stonewalling me until I quit. I don’t know what kind of advantage that gives him. Or he may try to hire me back at reduced wages or something. Don’t know…
Can I file for unemployment? What is a suspension? How about how I was being paid, is that legal? And his pretending to offer Apprenticeship Training?
I am willing to answer any questions, there is a lot of other really shady stuff going on there, that is so odd I have no idea if it is or isn’t legal. Any info would be appreciated. Or am I totally barking up the wrong tree? And that this is a case of a terrible company to work for that is technically following the law.
ANY help would be appreciated. I can answer any questions…. I am going to call him sometime in the next few days to confront him about this suspension thing. I need to know some law! I need to know what he can and can't do to me legally!
Ok, let me just warn you that this is going to be a long and ridiculous post, because I worked at a ridiculous place. A small privately owned Furniture Company that sells very high end furniture. We are talking 16,000 dollar beds, 5,000 dollar nightstands, 10,000 dollar chests of drawers. High end stuff. And this business is run unlike any other business I have ever heard of. The way wages are made and distributed is bizarre, how people are treated is insane, and overall the entire operation could be illegal… I don’t know. So I am going to relate most or all of it, and see if any of you can help me.
So It begins….
Now the guy that runs this place, let’s call him Mr. X, hires everyone as an “Apprentice Furniture Maker” Now… he claims that after 5 years of working for him you will be a Journeyman. He claims this, but it has never happened because he has never been able to retain an employee for the 5 years it would take to become a Journeyman. But that is neither here nor there; here is the rub… I don’t think the State of Massachusetts recognizes Furniture Maker as an “Apprenticable Activity”.
Basically I know Electricians and Plumbers and other trades have some sort of recognition by the state as Apprentices and Journeymen, and need to get through the Apprenticeship to become an electrician or a plumber… I don’t think that mechanism exists for Furniture Makers. I know Mr. X applied to the state to let him establish a Furniture Makers Apprenticeship, but I believe he was turned down, or the application hasn’t been processed by the State. There was a guy that used to work there that actually looked into it and he said there was no evidence that our Furniture Company was in anyway certified by the State.
Now, looking around the shop one day I did find a packet with this printed on the shop…
“Division of Apprentice Training.
Department of Labor and Workforce Development
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Standards of Apprenticeship
Employer – Program Sponsor
Formulated By:
Mr X
I believe this was his program that he put together that he sent to the State for Approval. But, at the end of the packet where there is a space for the Director of Apprentice Training to sign approval, the signature is missing. I still think he is waiting for the signature.
So that would be Mr. X’s first offense. He tells people he will hire you as an Apprentice, and in 5 years you become a Journeyman, but in actuality, that is probably a lie. But no one has ever stayed employed 5 years to find out.
Once you are hired at this Furniture Shop, this is where the REAL fun begins. You are given two items, a punch card to punch into the time clock, and a timecard where you write how long you worked on certain jobs. You are paid according to your timecard, not punchcard. And he will tell you how many hours to put on your timecard. He will cap you. So, when I first started I worked 8 hours a day, but was only allowed to put 5 hours a day on my timecard. I would only get paid for those 5 hours. The other 3 missing hours were considered “training”.
So on any given week, I would work 40 – 44 hours and get paid for 35 hours. And my hourly rate was minimum wage. I worked 5 – 9 hours for free every week. He claimed this was because of “training” And I never got compensated for training. I complained about this and eventually I was able to record all the hours I actually worked. But this was only at the end. For that majority of my employment he “capped” my pay at 35 hours per week, even though I was working 44. And, BTW, I seldom received any training during those “supposed” training hours.
Now you are probably wondering why we even had punchcards to punch, seeing as we were paid by our doctored timecards. The punchcards were just there to make sure people were coming in on time and leaving on time, seeing as our timecards were so fabricated.
Now, about three months into my employment by Mr X, I had some words for him about the missing hours and some other of the shady economics of the company. So he called me into the showroom to chew me out. He laid out all the papers I had signed when I had started including my “Apprentice Agreement”.
And he starts to chew me out. While he is talking, I take hold of my Apprentice Agreement and read it. According to this agreement, I was only supposed to work uncompensated hours during my “trail period” that was supposed to last 2 months. And here I had been working partially uncompensated for 3 months. So even if it is legal that he has his employees report less time working then they actually work, I have a contract with him stating I wouldn’t work uncompensated hours for him after the two month mark.
So, at this furniture company I was hired as a furniture maker but was soon put into the Varnish room to work as a Varnisher. Now, he had always told everyone Varnishers made more money initially because their training was so little, but their salary capped out quickly.
I was put into the Varnish room because our entire Varnishing Staff quit the same day. I was put in there, but instead of getting paid a Varnisher’s salary I got paid an apprentice furniture makers salary which was working 44 hours a week and only getting paid for 35 hours at minimum wage. He tells me he will hire another Varnisher soon, and it is a temporary situation. Well he hires another guy, and that Varnisher gets fed up with him and quits within two weeks. So for those two weeks I was still in the Varnish Room training him up, I never left the Varnish Room.
And that happened again and again. So here I am stuck in the Varnish Room for like 3 months, getting paid my less then minimum wage for my pretend Apprentice Training that isn’t officially recognized by the State, and Mr. X is kind of a jerk on top of that.
I confront him and tell him how the company is a sham and explain to him why he can never retain employees. That is just a big shady treadmill that hires on false pretexts and may even be in violation of the law. (I don’t know if these things are illegal or not). He and I argue/discuss for a while and he tells me he likes me as a person and that these “discussions” are healthy for the company. The next day we have another “healthy” discussion and he suspends me.
I have no idea what a suspension is. He claims he has never fired an employee. I think he just suspends them until they quit. When I asked him for a reason he said he didn’t feel like talking about it. Literally. He said he “I don’t feel like talking about it” when he suspended me. No reason. He said he would call me on Mon. to talk about it. He didn’t call. I am being stonewalled. If I file for un-employment and I claim I got laid off or fired, he won’t sign the paperwork or something because I quit. He is stonewalling me until I quit. I don’t know what kind of advantage that gives him. Or he may try to hire me back at reduced wages or something. Don’t know…
Can I file for unemployment? What is a suspension? How about how I was being paid, is that legal? And his pretending to offer Apprenticeship Training?
I am willing to answer any questions, there is a lot of other really shady stuff going on there, that is so odd I have no idea if it is or isn’t legal. Any info would be appreciated. Or am I totally barking up the wrong tree? And that this is a case of a terrible company to work for that is technically following the law.
ANY help would be appreciated. I can answer any questions…. I am going to call him sometime in the next few days to confront him about this suspension thing. I need to know some law! I need to know what he can and can't do to me legally!
Comment