violet

Violet
: I am shocked that you would leave without notice and under absolutely false allegations. I would never have guessed that a professional person, such as yourself, would leave in such a manner. It was understood between you and I, from the beginning of your employment, that you could of course take your breaks. They just needed to be self managed during the evening. It is a self managed position . As far as your low blood sugar, during that part of the evening, you could have had a snack during your break times, just like the rest of the staff does, they eat when they need food. I and the staff also witnessed your evening work breaks which most far exceeded legal break times with no work involved. When asked, in our original conversation, if your self managed breaks were fine you said, "Yes!". After almost two months of employment you did not even mention once there was a problem, you acted as if everything was fine. If you had brought it to my attention I definitely would have worked with you to come up with a solution that would have better accommodated your evening. If you ask any staff member about personal requests that would make their job better, I always bend over backwards to accommodate them. On a regular basis the staff brings to our attention how grateful they are to work here, how well they are treated and paid. I find it ironic that the past person who had your exact same position, with the same working conditions, work load and hours, had none of the same issues. Desiree had none of the same physical aches and pains you claim to have even after three years. She had no problem taking her self managed breaks during the evening and having necessary snacks and beverage. She was so grateful for all we had done for her and how well she was treated when she left to get married.

All of the things you stated in your E-mail seem nothing more than attempt to ease your own conscience for leaving in the most unprofessional manner with no more than a few hours notice prior to your shift, without any conversation or attempt to resolve your concerns .

Please forward the craigslist.com resumes to EWMA They are in the company's name and belong to our company. I will expect to see them today.

Zennette B
Owner
EWMA, LLC


Hahahah bitch, look at what I sent back...

Zennette,

I was never told by you anything about self administered breaks. I was however told by Desiree that NO one takes breaks at East West. I did not know what to do about the situation cause me being a new person walking into an atmosphere like that its hard for me to be like "hey everyone, I'm the new girl, and I'm going to change the system so everyone can have their breaks!" I couldn't do that.

I was told by Desiree that her father was very concerned with the fact that she didn't get breaks when she first started working there, but that she loved you as people and her job and she did not want to cause conflict. I did not either. However, when I was told i had to squat down every time i wanted to take a drink of water, or a bite to eat, I was horrified. Desiree said it was weird b/c in the 3 years she had worked there, you had never said that to her before.

When you said to me, "You don't see people at the gap drinking behind the counter,' that is when i said to you. "Zennette, I would be more than happy to not EVER drink behind the counter, if there is a set time that I can have a break away from the front counter." and you said "No one is here to relieve you for a break, no one else takes a break and they work much longer hours, it is ok for them to take a drink while standing up because they are instructors and it is physical activity..." Then you asked Desiree, "Doesn't it get slow at the end of the night, isn't that considered your break?" She said "sometimes.." then you looked at me, and said "well your periods at the end of the night are when your break is." Rarely are things so dead, and unfortunately even if it was dead enough at the end of the evening take a small break, that is not the time in which the law says a meal break should be administered.
I could not go sit for 10 minutes let alone 30 to have a meal.

Unfortunately that is not what the law says. The law says, there must be 2, ten minute breaks that are not optional, they must be away from work duties between the 2nd and the 3rd hour, and the last couple hours of the shift. There must be a 30 minute unpaid break away from work activities IN THE MIDDLE of the SHIFT, if it is mandatory that the employee stays on the premisis the 30 minute meal break should be paid, but must be away from work duties. This has never happened at EWMA. Can you honestly say, that you were ok with me sitting down in the office at 5pm for 30 minutes away from my activities having a meal? That has never happened, with me nor anyone else that works there.
The one day I brought up the break situation to you, I was then pulled into the office later that evening, and told from Desiree that you were very upset that i had "talked back to you" by bringng up the need for breaks. And that if I wanted to keep my job and grow with the company, i needed to do whatever you told me to do. She also told me that I needed to come in to work even if I was sick, and excuse myself to go puke in the bathroom if I was ill, because I was also not allowed to take a sick day.

I then never brought up the subject again. It wasn't until the work load increased, and increased and increased that I started to become increasingly disgruntled with the lack of breaks. I still did not feel comfortable to coming to you about the situation, because of heated debates we have had about issues in the past. I do not like confrentation, and I do not like when you get upset.

The lack of flexibility in the position along with my decision to report you to Labor and Industries was the cause of my quick departure. It is not my job to help you enforce the law by administering breaks, it doesn't mean that you have to sit there and tell the person to go to break, but there should be system in place to allow whoever is working the front desk time to be away from the desk for 10 minutes twice a night, and 30 minutes away from the front desk to have a full meal. There is nothing in your procedures that would help facilitate a break. I was told by desiree to bring the phone with me even if i was going to the bathroom.

I know that my allegations are not false, because people at the coffee stand, people at the printing shop are aware of you not giving breaks. OTher employees at EWMA have talked about it and agree, STUDENTS at the school have also brought it up to me, "hey don't you guys ever get a break?" but there is a common ground that no one wants to stand up to you, because no one wants to lose there job. This is when I decided that I was in a position to do so for them.

I do not "gain" anything by leaving EWMA...If anything I could definitely use the money to help me with my savings to Japan, it was an extremely hard decision for me to make, but after I filed a complaint with Labor and Industries, I did not want to hang around and deal with the reprecussions of your irresponsibilties. I did not want to encounter people talking behind my back and being nice to my face. You guys can say whatever you want to, I am happy I don't have to witness it on a daily basis. I do not need a reference from you, I have plenty of references of people who felt like I was a fantastic employee, that promoted me many times in a short amount of time. I have never been treated in such a militant way. I filed this complaint right before I left. I was also encouraged by my family and other people that knew about the situation from day one to leave the very first time that it happened.

I am very happy that everything on my end has now been taken care of, as far as doing what I think is right. Good luck.

PS. I have no idea what employees said that I took over the legal limit breaks, I so rarely ever left the front counter, I could barely do bathroom checks. The only time I left the counter of something that could be considered half of a break once every other days, is when I went to get coffee, while taking out the mail...and don't worry I documented that in my claim as something that I was allowed to do.

PPS. I also contacted a lawyer to find out what my rights were, about a month ago, and she said that technically I could file a suit for double time of every hour that I was not administered a break, but I am not going to do that to you. I just want the procedures changed for the current employees, that is all I care about.

BYE.