Employment is NOT SLAVERY.

[JFN1]

So, many of you know some of our story - we moved from the West Coast to the Midwest to help our family deal with an illness.

Before we left, my wife was an executive in the credit department for a major semi-truck manufacturer. I am retired from the military.

So we've been back here now about three years. It's rural, lots of farms, and boring.

So my wife decided to get a part time job, working for a small retail dairy store (they still sell milk in glass bottles). She's been there for a few months now.

Yesterday, she came home from work furious. It seems the day before, during which she worked four hours, the cash register came up short $24. She doesn't get to count the drawer before or after her shift, and the owner and his family work the drawer alongside their employees all day.

So this morning, her boss told her that since the drawer came up short, and she worked the day of the shortage, the missing cash would have to come out of her check.

He told her this is how they have always done it.

Folks, this sort of thing is ILLEGAL. The law says employers must pay employees for the hours they work; risk, and profit, are solely the owner's to assume - not the employees.

Now, I know for a fact my wife did not make a mistake on the drawer - in her career, she's counted out some $1.5 million in cash, and has never missed as much as a penny. And she knows she made no mistakes. So she told the boss, if her check is short $24, she would not tolerate it. So we will see, next Monday, who blinks.

Did I mention there are no breaks or lunch hours for any employees? Some of them work ten hour shifts with no breaks, no lunch, and if their drawer turns up short, they pay for it.

My wife asked the owner if overages in the register were paid to the employee. He answered, "No, of course not."

Many people allow their employers to do this sort of thing to them, and I want you all to know - you do not have to tolerate such abuses.

EMPLOYMENT IS NOT SLAVERY.

Stand up for your rights, and don't be afraid to turn your employer in for illegalities and abuses. The Department of Labor, if the abuses are egregious, will sue the employer on your behalf - and award you the winnings.

And your employer is NOT allowed to retaliate against you IN ANY WAY if you turn them in. if they do, you can sue the shit out of them.

I, for one, am finished with businesses abusing the law for profit. Small business or massive corporation, the law is there to protect you. Don't be afraid to enforce the law and stand up for your rights.

And one final note: We are finishing up a complaint to both the State and Federal departments of labor about my wife's employer. We will be mailing it off tomorrow, as we will not stand idly by while this employer abuses his employees.

Illegally profiting from employees must be stopped, else we are little more than wage slaves for an abusive, uncaring elite.