I'm Curious To Know If Some Of My Boss's Recent Decisions Are Legal. Lack Of Breaks, Docking Pay, Etc.

Location: TN, USA.

Pretty low stakes, really. I work part time at a bakery. Over the past few months we've been pretty short staffed. The owner just hired a new girl a few weeks ago, and still needs to hire two more.

First and foremost, we haven't been getting breaks. I typically work a 6 hour shift, occasionally I have to do a 9 hour shift. Totally alone. We're allowed to slip into the back to eat a few bites or pee, but we don't clock out and still have to serve customers.

Second, the new girl has been struggling to get the hang of things, and typically works a bit slower than the rest of us, though she seems earnest. She has closed a few times, and told me that the owner told her that if she didn't get quicker at closing, she was gonna dock her pay by 30 minutes. The poor girl called me in tears one night because she was so far behind, I wound up telling her to just go home and I would finish cleaning in the morning when I opened.

The new girl closed a couple days ago, and it was our first day with a new card reader. The owner had opened that morning. When she did the books that night, the register was short about $50. The owner told the new girl that she had to pay her back that money out of her paycheck, which she did. I know all of this because the owner told me about it today.

I don't know, the money stuff just seems kinda suspicious to me. Like I feel like you shouldn't be able to dock someone's pay just because they're new and still getting the hang of things. And I'm really not sure if the new girl should be responsible for making up the difference in the register.

All of this is making me think I aught to start looking for employment elsewhere.