Got Fired Due To “discovering” Boss’s Illegal Money Laundering (?)

(Canada being a flair is so funny— Location: Toronto)

Ive been working at this local restaurant for under 3 months (and I know the rules that apply to that) and I got fired today over absolute bs.

In our full-employee groupchat, my coworker “Jane” sent a screenshot of her weekend tipout, which included 30$ each going to “Host”, “Busser/Runner” and “Busser” under three TABS. She sent it to question why it was labeled as a tab (and not necessarily a tip i assume— i’m new to this work environment)

My boss “John” immediately told her to take the situation offline, got defensive saying she should be serving not on her phone, and clarified about a dozen times saying the Host/Busser tabs are for weekends only.

At this point, I had googled a couple things and double checked my payroll. I was/had been the ONLY Host (and there was no official “busser”. it was me + the servers bussing. mostly me) for the past 8 weeks. I had never received ANY tips. My boss and I had had a conversation weeks prior saying I’d *start* receiving tips once I’m “good enough” or whatever. Sure, fair, whatever. Didn’t inquire further.

However, I was very confused on the situation so I sent 1 text to the groupchat asking where the money was going if it’s being deducted from Jane (and by extension the other server’s pay) since I don’t get tips. It was a short and innocent text when pieces hadn’t clicked. I am new to this environment, and they definitely treat me and pay me like I am, so I don’t see how it could’ve been taken as a full-malicious attack.

My boss replied and said it’s not for me and that I should call him when i am free. He then immediately removed me from the groupchat.

30 minutes later, I decided to walk over to the restaurant, on my way there, I got a text saying that the tip money was being held in a pool until I was ready to receive it (as if) but that it would now be going back to the employees, since I would no longer be working with them.

When I got to the restaurant, I went up to Jane and asked her about the situation. She was very blissfully unaware and said she didn’t mean the whole situation to escalate, but that I could go talk to John (Boss) downstairs.

As I was walking downstairs, I started a voice recording in my pocket. This boss guy genuinely heard me coming down and shut his office door, and tried to barricade it with a trash bin. But we made eye contact through a sliver of the door so he reluctantly let me in.

What followed was 2 minutes of GENUINE bullshit. I spoke calmly and softly—albeit very questioningly. I was determined to get a real reason for being fired (i know i’m not entitled to one since I worked <3mo but he’s the one who kept replying). He kept saying how my poor communication and unreliability was why i was being terminated.

FAT chance. I didn’t take 1 call this morning because I only work weekends and he had no reason to contact me. I have consistently been reliable and been praised for my work ethic and attitude while working here. The past few weeks I was being trained to become a server for the upcoming months. John and I had talked several times about me working through to next summer and onwards.

Both the FOH manager, BOH manager and boss all commended me recently and I also took my job seriously and did it well without complaints, even though I was getting paid below my legal minimum wage for 6/8 weeks I worked there with 0 tips.

I kept questioning him politely, and he soon snapped at me, raising his voice and clapping loudly. He started saying he was super busy (false, I came after rush, there was 1 server when we usually have 3 + barista) and in a meeting (no he wasn’t) and “who gave you the right to come down here and knock on my door” (Jane did, but i didn’t wanna throw her under the bus even though he clearly saw the interaction through the security cams infront of his face). Basically, he was super aggressive and told me to leave and “honestly don’t come back,” which I did without complaint or rebuttal, and left quickly.

My other coworker told me how another server got fired a couple weeks ago because she kept questioning the Tipout too. In the past 8 weeks alone, I can confidently assume thousands of dollars have been taken from the servers tipouts. Probably been put on that Host TAB. The tips at this place are crazy, my manager told me a couple times that he made 600$ in tips alone one night, and another night 1 group spent over 1000$ on alcohol alone.

this is a local family run business, but it has a couple locations afaik.

I have screenshots of the chats and a 3 minute voice recording of my interaction with my boss. I’m not really looking to get that shitty job back (was gonna quit last week anyway for a better job, but stuck out so as to not leave them in a pinch on halloweekend), more so just to expose them if anything because how can you get away with this????? But i care for my co workers there and don’t want to hurt them if I can avoid it.

Im a girl and turn 18 in a couple weeks if that changes anything. What should I do? Should I do anything? I know the restaurant industry is fucked up but this is insane and I think I have solid evidence.