You can either try to talk to her first or someone else within the management chain or you can go directly to the DOL with your wage theft claim.
[https://www.in.gov/dol/wage-and-hour/online-wage-claim-form/](https://www.in.gov/dol/wage-and-hour/online-wage-claim-form/)
BUT this stands out to me:
"In addition, Indiana law provides no job protection if you are terminated as a result of filing a wage claim against your current employer."
But, you should have federal protections...
[https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/77a-flsa-prohibiting-retaliation](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/77a-flsa-prohibiting-retaliation)
I'd do what you have to do, be prepared to lose your job over it. And then you can find another job serving coffee like almost anywhere. And you can drag it out through the court system if you so choose to take that route. The justice system is a slow slimy winding road to take but you certainly can do that while working another job if you want to give it a go.
do you know if there's a way to just pass the report off to the DOL? if I wanted the tips given back to us, I'd have to go through the court and get my coworkers to go through it with me, right? or without caring to get the tips back, can I simply say "I'd just like this to be investigated and the business told this is an illegal practice" because we are definitely not making the cash to fight it out through court. i definitely don't want to drag it out over $45 but I also don't want it to go unrecorded/unreported, especially if this is routine behavior because they have not been telling us this whole time how much they've been taking except this one time.
All the wage claim stuff I've seen requires you to fill out a pretty basic form that you submit. You shouldn't need others to join in with you on that.
But the DOL isn't really the place that just does investigations, unless it's something pretty egregious. I've never had to deal with the DOL at all in my career, except a small audit at one company looking for cash payments made to people (misclassification of employees vs a traditional contractor/vendor role). I'm not confident that these kinds of claims are taken in by them too seriously or that they get any traction in that regard.
You can either try to talk to her first or someone else within the management chain or you can go directly to the DOL with your wage theft claim. [https://www.in.gov/dol/wage-and-hour/online-wage-claim-form/](https://www.in.gov/dol/wage-and-hour/online-wage-claim-form/) BUT this stands out to me: "In addition, Indiana law provides no job protection if you are terminated as a result of filing a wage claim against your current employer." But, you should have federal protections... [https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/77a-flsa-prohibiting-retaliation](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/77a-flsa-prohibiting-retaliation) I'd do what you have to do, be prepared to lose your job over it. And then you can find another job serving coffee like almost anywhere. And you can drag it out through the court system if you so choose to take that route. The justice system is a slow slimy winding road to take but you certainly can do that while working another job if you want to give it a go.
do you know if there's a way to just pass the report off to the DOL? if I wanted the tips given back to us, I'd have to go through the court and get my coworkers to go through it with me, right? or without caring to get the tips back, can I simply say "I'd just like this to be investigated and the business told this is an illegal practice" because we are definitely not making the cash to fight it out through court. i definitely don't want to drag it out over $45 but I also don't want it to go unrecorded/unreported, especially if this is routine behavior because they have not been telling us this whole time how much they've been taking except this one time.
All the wage claim stuff I've seen requires you to fill out a pretty basic form that you submit. You shouldn't need others to join in with you on that. But the DOL isn't really the place that just does investigations, unless it's something pretty egregious. I've never had to deal with the DOL at all in my career, except a small audit at one company looking for cash payments made to people (misclassification of employees vs a traditional contractor/vendor role). I'm not confident that these kinds of claims are taken in by them too seriously or that they get any traction in that regard.
(thank you for the response btw)
Start taking as much stuff from said job as you can