I was berated then fired, and now family is saying get a lawyer.
Could i please get some advice from the reddit gods? Brace yourselves. This is a lengthy one.
I (28F) have been working at this office job for the last 8 months. My job was to make phone calls all day to clients of the business and handle all new incoming calls and occasionally claims. Very easy honestly. I liked my clients and i liked my coworkers. There was only me, debbie and laura in the office. laura is the owner's daughter in law but she absolutely hates him. That's a whole other story. Debbie was fairly new but fitting in great. My boss is not a very nice person and very much a control freak. We are watched on camera all day. Told what to say and how to say it. If it's said wrong he is never happy.
On to the real stuff. Life has been a little crappy in the last few weeks. I hear it comes in threes. My car broke down (it's fixed now). The office was struck with illness. I took two days off and then worked sick as the other girls had the whole next week off. Well all was good until monday when I woke up sick. Tuesday i came into work feeling much better. By noon i was getting sick at my desk and running to the bathroom with a bucket. I stayed working and left work two hours early after I finished the list of tasks for the day.
Wednesday i came into work and my boss called in. Hes pissed. Hes yelling at me asking why I've been so sick. He stated he needed to know my health information because he wanted to be sure I didn't have something serious and if it was then he would let me go because that doesn't work for him. He then began nonstop asking if i wanted to be there. (I didn't answer because he wasn't gonna like my answer)
I told him that I'm not making myself sick. I had no intention of coming in and throwing up at my desk. (he made a rule that if we were sick we were not allowed in the office or he would fire us for getting the others sick) I told him he doesn't have a right to my personal information. I'm in the process of figuring it out. I have a drs note.
He said for the rest of april i wasn't allowed to call off at all for being sick. (i already had a dr appt scheduled so that sucked) He stated that i was no longer allowed to have red bull (i drink one in the morning, i can't drink coffee) or anything else besides water. He also demanded I start eating better? (me and Laura eat the same lunch or i bring in leftovers) I told him quite frankly "i wont bring it into the office, and ill eat my lunch somewhere else from now on". He just said okay and hung up.
Thursday a man shows up at the office. Very sweet and talkative. he came right up to me and told me all about how my boss hired him last week and he wanted to check the place out. he was hired to do the phone calls, paperwork.. my job. He was very excited to be starting on monday.. i connected the dots very fast. There are only three computers in the office. I immediately jumped to applying to get ahead but continued like normal.
Friday i worked as normal. 3pm came around and i had finished the day's list of tasks. My Boss walked into the office and sat in front of me. He told me my work was great, my personality was always bubbly and great with clients, and the only reason hes letting me go is my inability to communicate. I'm unsure what that meant other than he didn't like our conversation on Wednesday or my conversations with clients. (he records all phone calls, nobody knows because his system doesn't say it) He then brags about the two people he hired to replace me and how great they'll be for him. While he bragged I was packing all my stuff and leaving. He told me he would pay me for the day and i could write a letter of recommendation "from him" and send it to laura to proofread before i use it. Kinda felt like a slap in the face and I'm not sure why.
Here are the added issues that make this situation suck even more. He had me as a 10-99 employee. (i have never been 1099 before) I was talking to a bank teller one day about a loan and we ended up talking about my pay being 20hr and my hours 9-6 monday thru friday. He immediately started telling me that as a 1099 employee I'm supposed to have a contract. (i asked the laura and she said she is also 1099, she didn't know about the contract and feared Boss would fire us if we asked). From what the teller told me and from some research I've done i believe i was supposed to have much more of a say in my day to day job.
My boss controlled in every aspect. We were expected early every day and late out if it warranted but no overtime. He watched us on camera all day on his tablet. If we said the wrong thing he called immediately. He would yell through the camera mic at us to call him if we were on the phone and didn't answer him. He once complained I took too long in the bathroom and i yelled "Well I didn't predict my period but I'm more than happy to talk about it." He got very awkward and fumbled his words then hung up very fast.
My family has heard all the stories these last few months and warned me not to stay at this job but i have bills and it was paying them. Now there's begging me to report him and do something about it but I don't know what i can do. I'm stuck and stressed. any advice would really help. Thank you so much!
Location: Fort Myers, Florida