Complaint Review: Waffle House

My girlfriend Jennifer used to work at Treasure Bay Waffle
House in Biloxi, MS. Last New Years Day (2004), the manager of the waffle house took a collection and sent an employee to the store to buy a pie. When she returned, they took Jennifers glasses and hit her in the face with the pie. She was too upset to work the rest of her shift.

The next day, Jennifer wanted to file a complaint with the district manager, but the store manager wouldn't let her. She told Jen that if she complained it would only start trouble, and then told her that she should just throw a pie back at them. Well, Jennifer played along and hit the other girls with a plate of whipped cream. Later the same day, the manager called jennifer and said that one of the other girls complained and that Jen was suspended until further notice.

After that, Jen had several meetings with upper management, but nothing was accomplished. When Jen returned to work, her manager told her she had to sign a write up and that was it. So Jennifer wrote a statement to attach to the write-up which protested the situation and requested further investigation of the matter. However, they had the "write-up" on a table with other papers scattered around and the top of it was covered up.

Thinking it was just a write-up, Jennifer signed it, but when she picked it up to hand to the manager, she saw it was actually a "Last-Chance Agreement" which required her to take drug tests and immediate termination if she got in trouble. None of the other employees were made to sign one of these agreements, and they did not let her attach her statement, even though she already wrote "See attachment" on it.

They demoted her, and started placing her on the overnight shift. Jen and I have a daughter and they knew it was hard for her to work overnight. Jennifer put in a request to move to another store, but they refused to move her. The excuse they gave her was that she couldn't transfer unless she found someone else for them to hire, so they could replace her. Jen told them that its not her job.

By April or May, Jennifer went to the manager and told her that she feels like she is being discriminated against, and the manager told her if she doesn't like it, "she can always quit." She was also due for a vacation check at this time, but they refused to give it to her. Not long after that, the manager yelled at jennifer for not doing another employees job and said Jennifer should have done it for her. So she quit.

After Jennifer quit, Waffle House made it very difficult for her to cash in her stock (it took about 2 months), and still refuses to give her a last vacation check. A manager at another waffle house has been trying to give her a job, but he can't because it has to be approved by the district manager who is good friends with the manager Jen quit under. We have been trying to file a lawsuit but lawyers keep turning us away. The suit has to be filed by January 1st, 2005 to fall within the statute of limitations.

Jen also has several scars on her arms from cooking there that will require surgery to fix, and the manager refuses to submit her request for workers compensation.

Jen had worked there over 5 years when she quit.

Luke
Ocean Springs, Mississippi
U.S.A.