Are you a cashier at a grocery store where self-checkouts are slowly taking over? A line worker at a manufacturing facility where automation is the new buzzword? A fast food worker where self-ordering kiosks are replacing your spot at the front of the line?
It’s happening across more and more businesses in America. Your employer might be putting a positive spin on it. “You’ll spend less time serving people” or “no longer stuck on the assembly line” and “free to do other things,” she says.
But when those are the core functions of your current job, you may feel like it’s only a matter of time before a staff meeting is called and more than half the team is let go. What can you do?
Look for New Opportunities
The world is changing fast. If your company is generating new, more efficient ways of operating, you can take the same opportunity to create new skills for yourself. However, be selective. If you simply leave one bad company for another, all you’re doing is enabling unfair employers to take advantage of people like you.
Set your sights on a workplace that treats and compensates you fairly. Finding that golden opportunity might require you to get some additional education, but it’s worth it. At the same time, you certainly don’t want to wait and see what will happen. If you feel as if the company you work for is trying to squeeze you out, you may have legal options.
Call an Attorney
If you have been employed in a minimum wage field for a long time, chances are that you have been taken advantage of one way or another. The company needs capital to invest in your robotic replacement, and they may have raised it by forcing you to work without a break, coaxing (or ordering) you into unpaid overtime, and even withholding your paycheck when a big deposit is needed on all that new machinery. Demands like these are often bolstered by reminders that “We’re all in this together” and you need to take hits for the team now and again.
Don’t let an unscrupulous employer use you up, pay you only enough for you to get by, or steal from you in the name of their own future goals. All of these could constitute wage theft, which hurts you, your family, and the other workers whose situation can only be hurt by your compliance.
If it looks like your job might be gone tomorrow and your employer is taking advantage of you today, contact us today to set up a confidential consultation. We will meet with you, discuss your situation, and advise you on what you can possibly do to save your job.