Legal issues regarding popular California restaurant?

Question

I work for Denny's Restaurant (Corporate) in California, I am working there until I am done with school which is 2 years away. My question is, is there anything anonymous that I can do about the illegal things my General Manager does? For instance, under California's labor laws (Time Pay) they have to pay us for 4 hours of work, even if we don't "work" it. My manger sends us home after being clocked in for 30 minutes! Or we will work for one hour into our shift, then be sent on our 30 minute unpaid break and when we return from break we will be sent home an hour later. During the weekends, she will send some people home or "on break" right when they walk in the door! We feel as if we have no choice to obey, because if we don't our hours will get cut even more! She has extreme favoritism problems such as her best friend works there, who conveniently receives the most hours out of the whole staff, even though she's worked there for a month.Her Ex-Husband is a cook there. She constantly degrades us, and walks around the restaurant asking myself and the other employees "Who's going to get fired next"? Everyone is afraid of losing her job, we have no one to turn to. The economy is so bad right now that, we simply cannot "go get another job." Does anyone know if I can complain to anyone? Do anything? Anonymously? Please help

Answer 1

You report them to the Department of Labor. (See link below.)

Document the instances (schedules, vs time cards and paychecks) and report them!

Answer 2

you are incorrect about reporting pay in California, the employer must pay you 1/2 of the scheduled hours with that being a maximum of 4 hours and a minimum of 2 hours. http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_Reporting...

California is very strict with the use of breaks and when they are given.

there May be violations with what is being done in that regard.

http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_MealPerio...

http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_RestPerio...

as far as how you are treated that is an employee-employer relationship and is not covered by law however..............

Denny's will not tolerate poor performance and/or management skills from their managers, they will have an interest in how you are treated and how management is  performing. contact the district manager or the corporate HR office and file a complaint, state FACTS only and stay professional. do not make accusations you don't have proof of and/or witnesses to back you up.  they will want to know who you are but will keep you anonymous if possible you may be asked to "testify" to an internal auditor/HR investigator.  there is contact information in the break room or managers office for the HR department in Spartanburg, SC and should also be information for the district manager and district HR person.

the company does not tolerate managers putting the company at risk for fines due to not following labor laws. they will investigate and deal with the issues, if they do not then you can file a complaint with the department of labor at: http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/HowToFileWage...

Answer 3

You could just e-mail corp. office and make them aware, or perhaps you could transfer to another branch.

Answer 4

Rat her out to corporate. They won't put up with that s**+*