I commented this on someone’s post related to labor cuts but I’m honestly so sad that I thought I should post it myself
I was supposed to train a new baristas all this coming week(s). but they told me they don’t have the money to train for the rest of the year so they cut me. I have no hours for the next 2 weeks. They said their solution was for me to “ask people if they don’t want their shifts”. How am I supposed to live off of 0 hours, happy holidays
elmichael132749 points3y ago
Everyone at my store has been cut except for shift leads, a bunch of us have rent and bills to pay and we can’t do that off of 15-20 hours a week. We were told to “see if the other stores around us had shifts we could pick up” but their hours have been cut too. Just yesterday I watched 3 of my partners put in their 2 weeks notice.
PsychicPissJug36 points3y ago
People need to look up constructive dismissal and contal their departments of labor. I believe it's if your hours get cut by more than 10% of whatever your average hours were the past weeks/months. It's illegal. But most people, especially young people, don't know.
finnjiman16 points3y ago
I believe this depends on your state. If you live in an employment at will state, it most likely is legal for them to cut your hours for any reason as long as you’re given notice. I’m not 100% sure on this, so feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
PsychicPissJug3 points3y ago
Constructive dismissal still is valid in at will states. Now sure, you would still have to prove that the horrible working conditions, including cutting hours, was do to being part of a protected class. BUT, the way that I understand it and what is possibly helpful in this situation, is that constructive dismissal, even if you quit, still counts as being fired so you can still pursue unemployment. A lot of companies pull this shit because they are trying to get you to quit without having to deal with unemployment. And you absolutely should pursue unemployment since there's a punitive measure against the company. The sad part is, with part time work (especially retail and in the food biz) it's easier to just go find another job :/ and I'm not sure how unemployement goes with part time work but it's worth looking up, especially if a worker feels they might be targeted for being part of a protected class INCLUDING if you've filed complaints against the company (I think this also includes internal official complaints) and you feel management is increasing bad working conditions for you in order to get retribution and make you quit.
r/legaladviceofftopic or even r/personalfinance might be more helpful if someone going through this wants to post and ask questions.
PsychicPissJug14 points3y ago
Look up constructive dismissal which is illegal. Edit: By the way, the way I worded this is wrong. It's not that it's illegal, but it's the term used for it. And basically it means that even if you quit, that your employee made your working conditions (including cutting hours) so miserable, that you can file for unemployment like you were fired.
So, maybe not illegal, but there's a few more steps that benefit the employee. Still very shitty though. Starbucks continues it's not so slide downhill.
alter-n8-ive12 points3y ago
Lol I went from around 20h a week to 8. Two four hour shifts per week that I drive 20 to and from work. Right before the holidays. And SM says that we are overstaffed by 1 person... They why did we just get 3 new hires and 1 temporary transfer???
brokenlatteart12 points3y ago
Wait so you were only coming in to train not even to work regular
officialrayve [OP]6 points3y ago
Yes
goldenlemongirl10 points3y ago
I feel you, I recently left after transferring to a different store when I moved. Promised full time, over two months went from 32 hours/week down to 17 before I put my two weeks in :( I already had a second job that my new manager refused to work around (literally was 2 days/week until 4pm and EVERY week she’d schedule me at 3:30pm) happy holidays am I right 🤪
thememequeenv39 points3y ago
Thankfully I live in a massively expanding area so we don't have this problem but I think anyone who is affected by this should definitely look into your labor rights and take action
banterdisaster8 points3y ago
Our store just did that too and people waiting to start training won't be able to for weeks? It's not right.
chrltsweb7 points3y ago
Are a lot of stores cutting labor right now? Our manager just sent us all a message saying that all our hours were getting cut but our store has also been really slow and just opened a few months ago so I’m not sure if it’s just due to that
Kimbo1856 points3y ago
I thought this was just happening at my husband’s store but I’m sad to see this is happening everywhere. His store is one of the busiest here in SoCal near a major freeway. This is an injustice to the partners and the customers.
colonade174 points3y ago
Same thing happened in my store. We have a barista who was scheduled for 30 hours of training, and no other shifts for a week. It's not right to change a posted schedule, baristas have bills to pay.
radmf4 points3y ago
That sucks, it happened at my store too. We just hired two new partners and they started training, probably only for one day and now they’re not going to finish until next year. I can’t believe they just cut ALL of your hours. Do you know if there’s a Facebook page where partners swap shifts in your city/district? My city is always looking for borrowed partners to work at stores where people call out/have things planned/things like that. It might be in your best interest to find another store you like better anyway, the way they cut your hours to zero during holiday season is ridiculous.
silversungoddess1 points3y ago
To my understanding it’s not that they’re cutting LABOR hours that are already scheduled, you’re just not allowed to go over, not even a minute over (according to my SM). However, they did cut training hours completely, even for third place and continuing education training (all of which I find bizarre af since they keep sending weekly updates about how ‘omg we sold more pumpkin than expected and we cut the sale for cranberry bliss cause we’re selling the crap out of them blah blah money money blah blah’ ...
Side note: I’m transferring and supposed to be up-to-date on my trainings but I guess since they’re cut nationwide then I’m good. I wasn’t aware it was nationwide, thought it was just my district.
Edited to add:
I’d still call other stores, yes their labor has been cut also BUT they may have call outs or people quitting. My district sent out 3 texts from yesterday and today (2 stores) asking for 9 shifts to be covered.
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