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hOW WOULD YOU HANDLE THIS?
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hOW WOULD YOU HANDLE THIS?
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My daughter, just out of college, was thrilled to gt a job at a chain photography studio.  Needless to say, their managerial practices a bit to be desired.  The staff of 8-9 work 10-12 hour
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hOW WOULD YOU HANDLE THIS?

posted at 11/27/2012 2:59 PM EST on Workforce Management
Posts: 2
First: 11/27/2012
Last: 11/28/2012
My daughter, just out of college, was thrilled to gt a job at a chain photography studio.  Needless to say, their managerial practices a bit to be desired.  The staff of 8-9 work 10-12 hour work days with no breaks.  They're told to log out for lunch, but to keep working and "eat when they can".  She was scheduled to work 5 hours one night, after 5 hours - legally- they must give them a lunch. She was at the 5 hour mark, but still with a customer.  Her manager logged her off work...yet said nothing, as my daughter finished with her customer and in fact, worked 1/2 hour for free.

How do you handle this in a small studio?  Reporting the manager would make it miserable for her.  The manager has logged out others if they were nearling OT etc.

It seems this studio has many complaints from their locations all over the country regarding their employees.  Each employee has a quota and it's "get em in - get em out" type of photograhy studio.

I'm stumped as to what to advise her to do.  The studio, including the manager, consists of 20's something's.  There's a lot of talking about other employees by the manager.  She also communicates in her native language with another employee...

Re: hOW WOULD YOU HANDLE THIS?

posted at 11/27/2012 3:12 PM EST on Workforce Management
Posts: 222
First: 9/29/2011
Last: 5/15/2013
If your daughter isn't going to file a complaint, then her choices are pretty much limited to putting up with this [illegal] nonsense or finding another job.

There are several wage and hour violations here, both at the state level (lack of a meal period), and federal (falsifying time records and overtime violations).  Regardless of what your daughter does, she needs to start keeping her own record of her hours worked.  This will be vital if and when she does get fed up and/or leaves and files a complaint (note:  wage and hour violations do provide awards of treble damages. If the manager falsifying timekeeping records for a number of employees, this will amount to a very large hit for the studio).

Until there's a major overhaul at this studio, your daughter's job won't improve. I'd suggest she start looking for another one.

Re: hOW WOULD YOU HANDLE THIS?

posted at 11/28/2012 1:36 PM EST on Workforce Management
Posts: 2
First: 11/27/2012
Last: 11/28/2012
In Response to Re: hOW WOULD YOU HANDLE THIS?:
If your daughter isn't going to file a complaint, then her choices are pretty much limited to putting up with this [illegal] nonsense or finding another job. There are several wage and hour violations here, both at the state level (lack of a meal period), and federal (falsifying time records and overtime violations).  Regardless of what your daughter does, she needs to start keeping her own record of her hours worked.  This will be vital if and when she does get fed up and/or leaves and files a complaint (note:  wage and hour violations do provide awards of treble damages. If the manager falsifying timekeeping records for a number of employees, this will amount to a very large hit for the studio). Until there's a major overhaul at this studio, your daughter's job won't improve. I'd suggest she start looking for another one.
Posted by nork4


Thank you.  This is her first "real" job and she has mega student loans, so she wants to stay for at least awhile before leaving, so it looks better on her resume.  Her other jobs have been Target, WalMart and not for long periods of time.  I have advised her to keep records, dates, times etc.  It's insane how some companies run their companies.  Thanks again for oyur advice.

Re: hOW WOULD YOU HANDLE THIS?

posted at 11/29/2012 5:44 PM EST on Workforce Management
Posts: 215
First: 9/20/2011
Last: 5/14/2013
In Response to Re: hOW WOULD YOU HANDLE THIS?:
In Response to Re: hOW WOULD YOU HANDLE THIS? : Thank you.  This is her first "real" job and she has mega student loans, so she wants to stay for at least awhile before leaving, so it looks better on her resume.  Her other jobs have been Target, WalMart and not for long periods of time.  I have advised her to keep records, dates, times etc.  It's insane how some companies run their companies.  Thanks again for oyur advice.
Posted by jtetzlaff


Yes the real world of work can be ugly at this level. Since she is young she can probably tolerate it for a while. Nothing says she can't look for another job while working at this one.

Re: hOW WOULD YOU HANDLE THIS?

posted at 12/2/2012 5:35 PM EST on Workforce Management
Posts: 1
First: 12/2/2012
Last: 12/2/2012
I would advise your daughter to subtly teach the manager about the hour and wage regulations. My sister ran into a similar problem and I printed  some information from the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division which she put in her manager's inbox.  This seemed to have sent a message to her manager that someone did know the law!  Your daughter obviously will need to know how the manager will react to constructive criticism.  Good Luck!

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