A Person Got Revenge After They Were Paid Below Minimum Wage And Had Their Tips Taken Away

Aug 27, 2021 by apost team

Sometimes people are forced to take jobs that they aren’t too fond of in order to pay their bills or have a steady income. At the end of the day, taking care of yourself comes first. However, workers deserve to be treated fairly and with respect from their employers and should be told upfront what to really expect from the workplace. If something goes awry in the workplace on the employers’ end, it’s up to the employees to figure out what to do next to better help their situation.

A Reddit user posted in the r/ProRevenge forum in March 2021 to explain some of the shady practices his previous place of employment performed. He worked as a delivery driver for an unnamed company that seemed pretty good on paper but turned out to be extremely problematic. After making under minimum wage and having his tips taken away, he decided to do something about the lack of finances and the mistreatment he was facing.

Rather than let his company take advantage of him and continue to take his hard-earned money away, the Reddit user sought out revenge. He documented each malpractice the company performed and encouraged his co-workers to join forces and track all the wrongdoings they noticed at the workplace, too. Although it took many long months to get the ball really rolling, the Reddit user worked diligently at carrying out his act of revenge. Read on to find out more about this previous employee and how he fought back at his stingy employers.

At the beginning of his Reddit post, the original poster (OP) explained that the event had happened during his college years. He worked for a delivery company that at first seemed pretty good since the company provided vehicles to drivers rather than forcing drivers to use their own car. “Huge perk right? Well in this case no,” OP explained. 

While not having to worry about damaging his own car or constantly having to pay for gas while out on deliveries, using a company car turned out to cause some major problems for OP since the company’s owner used this as a reason to take 20% of the drivers’ tips. On top of that, this resulted in many employees typically making below minimum wage. However, OP explained that he had to sign a document stating otherwise.

This was a problem for the fact that tips belonged to the employee unless part of the employee tip pooling agreement in the state he worked in, and it was even stated so on his state’s Department of Labor website. Also, employers could not force their employees to sign something declaring they made minimum wage when they hadn’t. While plenty of people quit after finding out how shady the company was, OP decided to stick it out to see how long the company forced its employees to do this.

OP explained he questioned the managers about “the legality of their practices,” but they all said everything they did was OK. For the next year, OP continued working with the company and documented everything wrong with the place. Unfortunately, he ended up getting fired based on what he considered “three bogus infractions.” Fortunately, OP already had put his plan into motion. 

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“See in this state, unpaid wages collect interest,” he said, totaling $20 to $40 a night for five nights a week over the course of one year. He collected names of current and former employees who had also been “screwed over” by the company and sent all of their information to the Department of Labor. “It took a couple of months, but the company was eventually required to pay a decent chunk of change to all parties and a pretty hefty fine on top,” OP declared, with the total coming out to just under $100,000. But he wasn’t done yet.

The documents the employees were forced to sign stating they made above minimum wage when in reality they made below minimum wage affected how the company reported its payroll tax. So, OP got the IRS involved, and even received a small portion of the settlement after the company was hit with “a ton of back taxes.” OP still wasn’t done seeking his complete revenge. He also knew the company had an “under the table agreement” with their health inspector, and reported it to the health department. “This resulted in even more fines and a temporary closure for the joint,” he explained.

OP gave some advice to Redditors about what they should do if they are ever in a similar situation. “Know your labor laws,” he stated. “The more you know about your rights, the less idiots like these will be able to survive in the wild.” He edited his post to give some final words of wisdom and encourage everyone to document everything if their situation doesn’t seem right. He concluded, “Don’t be a person who gets taken advantage of by bad employers, only by fighting back will they ever learn their lesson.”

What did you think about this Redditor’s revenge story? Let us know, and be sure to pass this on to your family members and friends, too.