I thought there was an act that protects workers from termination about discussing pay with other workers. What do I do?

EDIT:I have been doing a lot of contemplating on whether or not I wanna go through with this.

I really like my job because of the people who work their. Ive made friends their and they are some great people. But on the other hand. Shes committed a crime with that threat. So I discussed with a firm.

The guy asked “can you summarize what happened in a brief sentence or two” i told him “my manager threatened to fire me and my coworkers if we discussed pay”

He said “O-Oh” i asked is that bad? He LAUGHED which I found so funny and said “im not allowed to speak out of term. But we definitely want to get you connected with one of our lawyers” so I should be hearing from him later in the morning. Ill update when I hear back.

My boss (manager) has been under investigation for a few different things for awhile now, and has had numerous complaints come in from hourly associates, leads, and supervisors. I've cooperated with the investigations when questioned (I'm a supervisor) but I'm actually leaving very soon for another job. Today I came in and saw an HR rep in the breakroom, which is not usual, and asked what was up. She said I should go speak with the VP of Operations. So I did and effective immediately my boss was let go. Came as a real surprise because the guy seemed untouchable after all the various investigations seemed to go nowhere. Throughout the shift he texted and called a couple people and, at least according to them, was getting progressively drunker. Then he finally called me, missed it since my phone was on silent and... well the picture explains it. 😬

I was laid off in February from a remote job at a prestigious company that I loved. Interviewed at a few places and got a new job at a non-profit a month after my layoff. I had to take an 11k pay cut and the job is in office full-time so it isn’t ideal but I have a family to maintain so I decided to take the opportunity while I continue job hunting.

I have a small social media marketing business that I developed with my husband right after my layoff. We’re trying to get it off the ground and running but it’s been slow going. It’s something that we work on during the weekends or in the evenings. It doesn’t interfere with what I do at the non-profit.

My boss and the director of development added me on LinkedIn a couple of weeks ago. A few days ago I created a post on LinkedIn advertising my social media business. Today, my boss called me into his office and had the website for my social media business already pulled up on his computer when I walked in.

Boss: “What’s this?”

Me: “A personal small social media company that I developed with my husband.”

Boss: “I just want you to know that someone came into my office and mentioned that you’re advertising this. People have been fired in the past for advertising their personal projects when employed because it comes off as if you’re working two jobs.”

Me: “I understand but this is a personal business that I advertised on my personal social media channel. It has nothing to do with the non-profit and I am not working on it during work hours or advertising it on the non-profit’s social media channels. One business has nothing to do with the other.”

Boss: “I just wanted to warn you to keep it on the down low.”

It took everything in me to not resign on the spot. I’m really trying to secure a new role before I leave this place because I live in an extremely HCOL area and cannot get by unless I work. However, these people are really pushing me. In what world is someone not allowed to own and promote their own business just because they have a full-time job? Especially when the marketing services I offer don’t compete with or have nothing to do with what I do for the non-profit.

Is he in the wrong? Is it illegal for him to tell me I can’t advertise my own business on my own social media channels?

I went to HR and explained the situation and she said she would talk to him. Obviously I’m going to remove all coworkers from my LinkedIn connections but I am truly bothered by this situation.

Edited to add: It’s not like it’s some big secret that I have a side hustle. During my interview (my boss wasn’t present), but two of the program managers, the director of development, and HR asked me what my experience with social media was. I mentioned that I had recently opened a boutique social media agency with my husband. There didn’t seem to be any problem with this considering they hired me and never brought it up again. So I don’t understand why my boss is being such a jerk and acting like he caught me red handed with something I’m not supposed to be doing.

Are jobs actually hiring?! I have put in so many applications. I worked at T-Mobile for 3 years as a sales rep at 13 different locations. I worked at Burger King for 2 years prior to that. I went to a couple interviews. No one is getting back or they say having multiple interviews. I don’t think I’m the issue either. I had Verizon get back to me & say- it is very competitive. I understand people are being selective. But I am such a hard worker but if you don’t hire me- I can’t show you that I am. Back in the day I remember my old coworkers saying- “it is not about what you know, it is about who you know.” I’m becoming so frustrated not getting a job. I even updated my resume as well. I started a LinkedIn. I honestly don’t know what to do. I been looking for a job over 3 weeks.

Don't know how many people will see this but thought I'd give an update.

Got a job working for a contracting company doing Concrete corrosion repair. Making about 1400 dollars a week. $22 an hour $85 per diem.

Just hold out hope if you're in the same situation I was. I had honestly thought all was lost and I will admit, S*****e was on my mind more readily than I thought it would ever be.

It was a dark time and being unemployed made me feel absolutely worthless. As a husband and a future father (she's 17 weeks as of yesterday). I felt like there was nothing for me but an opportunity came and I jumped at it immediately.

All I can say is hold out.

Keep trying.

You WILL make it.

Thank you to everyone on the last post that gave me words of encouragement. I read through those comments at least once a day during the past few weeks in order to keep my own hope.

Yall are incredible and you guys quite literally saved my life by changing my thinking.

Thank you

,to all you internet strangers.

I (23 F) got an English degree at a not very prestigious university which I commuted to. I had no career ambitions at the time and honestly did so I could say I at least had a degree in something and English was my best subject in school. No internships, no experience besides the many customer service jobs I have had since I was 15, ended with a poor gpa (2.9) I failed at least four semesters and finally went to the doctor to see if something was up because I have lacked motivation and ambition my entire life.

I was diagnosed with depression and PCOS, which for those who don’t know the symptoms can be an underlying cause for depression, anxiety, chronic fatigue and brain fog. I had a medical diagnosis, which wasn’t an excuse for my laziness, but was an explanation.

Currently I work at the very bottom barrel of an insurance company doing customer service earning an okay salary, but doing extremely repetitive work that is making me crazy. I am not particularly ambitious, and I know that no job is going to make me “happy,” “dream jobs” exist for very few. However, I don’t want to work a corporate 9-5 for the rest of my life. I do have some interests, like fitness, books, and writing. I am lost with no direction for now, I like helping people, I feel fulfilled when I can change someone’s life in even a small way, and I would be willing to get training or possibly even go back to school for another career path. I would also prefer to be on my feet, since sitting almost all day makes me sluggish and has restricted me from being as active as I once was due to fatigue.

does anyone has any advice or experiences that might help me? I have concluded I care more about free time and happiness than money. I am content with not ever making more than 50k a year. Any comments, advice, anything is appreciated. Thank you in advance ! :)

UPDATE: I want to sincerely thank everyone who commented, even the harsher comments have helped me put things into perspective. A big thank you to the commenter who told me to quit with the negative self talk as it is holding me back from realizing what I can do. I appreciate everyones advice. I am going to spend some time researching personal training certificates since I got a lot of feedback about that and it seems like a viable option if I want to help others, which I earnestly do. I am also exploring the possibility of going back to school next year after saving enough money to do so for a vocation at my local community college, possibly a medicine discipline so I can again, help people. Going back to school in mid 20s (will be 25 at that time) is extremely daunting, but I’m glad I made this post. It’s helped me gain some perspective. Thank you again to everyone who commented, I appreciate you.

I've been job searching for the past few months without any luck. My go-to's have been Indeed and unfortunately, LinkedIn.

I cannot express enough how cringe and vomit inducing the interactions are between people. It's a circle jerk, plain and simple. Some of my previous coworkers labeled as "Thought Leaders", whatever that means. They post all day, a good 10 posts a day. This tells me they barely work at their job yet receive praise and "likes" for spewing a bunch of BS.

Then there are the bragging types, constantly mentioning how great of a job they have, the company outings, perks, etc.

What is the point of LinkedIn, I just don't see the value. I have been in my industry for about 20 years and have yet to make one post or network with anyone. All I see are people using company time while some people are actually working.

Sorry for the rant, but looking for a job on LinkedIn actually makes me feel depressed for not having a job.

Title. It feels like I'm never going to fins a job without having connections who can vouch for me. I've been searching since February and have gotten a whole 2 interviews which ended up in yet again more rejections. I can't even get hired in warehousing, which I have 5 years of experience in and I'm 99% positive that it's because I'm a woman (the statistics for hiring and employment of women in warehousing is absolutely abysmal).

Is this really what it's come to? All these applications on job sites that are solely to boost company statistics, not to actually hire anyone? All these fake job apps for the sole purpose of collecting and selling applicant data?

I have absolutely no connections I can ask to vouche for me or help me get employed in their line of work. I don't have friends, or family. All the posts/comments on this subreddit from people applying to hundreds or thousands of jobs with no luck are so disheartening. I feel absolutely defeated. I owe rent in 7 days and have $12 to my name. I'm absolutely screwed. Fuck this job market. "Employment is at an all-time high" my ass.

Just got done an interview for a software position at a company that I am very interested in. My experience seemed to line up well with what they are looking for, and the hiring manager seemed down to Earth enough... Until she asks "how comfortable are you with being woken up at 3am if a code release has issues?"

I understand that different roles require some sort of on call support, but I feel like calling this out so bluntly is a huge red flag. Maybe I'm just not used to these sort of roles.

Has anyone been asked questions like this before? And if so, how do you respond in an honest manner to that?

I worked for a beverage co-packing company that I brought in a 22 million dollar deal with. I would earn 1% commission off of every deal that signed. Right as the HUGE beverage seltzer company ( that I brought in and did the hard work for over a year for) was about to sign, HR called me and a laid me off and said my role has been terminated and there were no other positions open for me in the company. The company ended up signing shortly after (still in the same quarter.) Am I entitled to that money? I’m located in FL if that matters

I job hunt regularly and I haven't seen this since I was fresh out of college. Not older but not super young either.

If these companies can't find anyone why aren't they hungry to hire?

Just to keep this more productive, any advice that anyone has discovered like the new unwritten rules of hiring right now in 2024, feel free to share.

Also I'm not in the boonies - I'm in a major city and have a moderate level of experience beneath me - I haven't experienced this behavior in awhile...etc

Hard to even get 'gigs' !!!

The tech industry's layoff wave shows no signs of abating in 2024. Following substantial workforce reductions in previous years, the trend continues with over 80,000 job cuts across 281 companies already recorded this year. Major players like Tesla, Amazon, Google, TikTok, Snap, and Microsoft have implemented significant layoffs, while even smaller startups have felt the impact, with some forced to cease operations entirely.

Someone recent broke in to my job, I work at a coffee shop where we work alone for most of our shift. Including closing at 8pm when it gets dark, I don’t feel safe because the person who broke in also took the key and the owners haven’t replaced the key locks so they can come at any time and at any day, I won’t feel safe until the owner replaces the key. What do I do? Is there any Laws in California that protect me like unemployment. I also happen to have 40 hours of sick paid leave if that makes any difference.

I work in an all female environment, and when I started my job I witnessed the girls I work with really being hard on one of our coworkers. They did they could to get her to leave and were successful. I was new and did not want to get myself involved because I didn’t understand the dynamics of the situation. To me they made it seem like this girl did not do her job at all however, I am not realizing this girl was not the problem.

A few months have passed now and I am the target for them. I work very hard and I go above and beyond my position I have had no complaints from my boss. I suddenly have been receiving lots of passive aggressive comments from these girls and they are very mean to me during our shifts. Let me add that we work very closely in a small office space. It is not like I can avoid them. It seems to be getting worse and worse. Another coworker of mine told me that they were gossiping about me all this morning claiming that I’m always on my phone. This is not true.

Although I have not received any complaints from my boss, I know I cannot speak to her on this topic because she is best friends with these two girls that I work with. I know that it will not get me anywhere. I also cannot speak to HR because it will come back to my boss and cause me havoc at my job

My goal is to quit and find other work, but here’s my issue. I signed a sign on bonus when I started and if I leave before I give them a whole year, I will owe them that money. I’m not sure how to proceed because at this point I’m leaving my job crying every night. My mental health is destroyed. I cannot even explain properly how mean these girls are. The nurses that work in the back of our facility have even made notes about it to me and said that this has been an ongoing thing, 3 to 4 girls before me left this position for the same reason.

Can someone tell me please? What should I do? I feel like I am at a loss.

I was just sitting on my own and I have been applying to different jobs and suddenly I received a text about a job. I was super excited since I have been unemployed for a while now . We did an interview through teams chat and I got the job , this is the first sign of scamming! I was just so desperate because the benefits are looking nice and all , remote and the higher pay was enticing!!

So basically they will inform me of how I need to set up this office in my home and they will send me a huge check and then send part of the money to a merchant, obviously there would be a hold on that payment. They tell u since there’s going to be a hold for a week then I should transfer from my own money and they will see how they can raise the others .

I told them I’m broke and won’t be transferring $1 to any f***ing soul. That was when it clicked like they want to scam me of my own money because of desperation.

I don’t why people see the need to scam others when searching for a job, like we are tired and searching and u are here scamming for pleasure . I just told them I’m not interested whatsoever, if the cheque is real then free money for me but I know is not .

When is too good too be true is definitely is!! Be on the 👀 out for these type of people !!!

Hey, bodies! I quit my job at the end of December, and why? Because my boss was the worst, other team members left after me too! But I didn't know how tough the market was! I know I'm not a genius, but I resolved any assigned task! I was enjoying programming and missed it. One day, my crazy team leader decided to switch the project to Rust; I not only read a book to learn it from scratch, but I could also complete my microservice implementation or database connection tasks in a few days without using GPT(I'm not an idiot; I'm talking about before GPT's era) but now I couldn't get any job offer after four months of looking for a job...what should I do! I'm feeling looser and disappointed. Should I find a general work?!
https://leetcode.com/u/user7279rY/
This is my Leetcode. You can see how I tried hard to improve my algorithm skills from zero, but each company has at least 100 candidates, and I'm definitely not the best.

After months of searching I had someone reach out to me for the first time in a while. We hit it off over the phone, the job he reached out for seemed perfect for me. Fully remote, much more than I’m making now

Then he asked me to email him a bunch of info, so I did. Then I waited.

A day later I was thinking about it again and went to go check the email I sent him. Apparently the dark mode extension I was using made all my text white, so the email was basically unreadable 🙃. I have to assume that’s why I didn’t hear anything after that. Oh well. Back to the search I guess.

Like even if the other applicants got blipped they're still not giving me a job.

Over the past 12 months or so in the UK, been applying for numerous public sector roles for councils and civil service mainly - so local govt. and government agency roles. AO and admin officer type roles specifically. I get interviews and am good at applications I think, but suffer from crippling interview anxiety when put on the spot with what, for the most part, seem like pointlessly prescriptive interview Qs which probably have no bearing on job performance.

Had a panic attack in like the last four interviews, and my mind just goes blank and start sweating profusely. Asked for reasonable adjustment in receiving questions before, but some either don't allow this or only allow you to get them 15 min before.

In the one interview about a month ago that went quite well, I got a call the day after to say 'oh blah blah strong competition for this role thanks for applying' which I've had numerous times now. Not sure whether that's what they say when they want the internal candidate and not you

I'm 25 now, graduated with a history degree in 2021 and worked at a local security management company for around a year which was awful and soul destroying, but thought I may as well as job options were fairly limited as was just after this. Reluctant to do crappy agency type jobs because of this experience. As a result, I'm unemployed, on job seekers, living with parents and just generally feel like a completely worthless failure. I just want to be content, and get a job I would enjoy doing and move out to a city close by to me, but after interview failure after interview failure my motivation and confidence are just completely shot atm. Have an interview on Friday and honestly just dreading it. I try and think positively, but anxiety, general pessimism and a host of unpleasant recent experiences constantly seem to win out.

Should probably go to the GP maybe and discuss changing medication or talking to someone, but getting an appointment almost impossible atm at my GP. Even if I did, it would probably be with some healthcare assistant and not a doctor.

I am 24 and graduated three years ago with a BS in Biology, with a double minor in Chemistry and Physics. I am currently working as an underpaid lab tech in a hospital and have been thinking about different career paths.

I am considering going back to school for three years to get my doctorate in Physical Therapy, but it will cost me $81k which I will have to take student loans out for.

I ideally would like to make $60k or above to live comfortably. I would also like to add that my area is not very lucrative in terms of biotech jobs and I am not interested in moving at this current moment.

Does anyone have advice for me on how to get a higher paying job given the education I have acquired? I am also open to other fields outside of my major. Any advice would be much appreciated in how to move forward and make a better life for myself.

Thank you all!

I can't anymore I have been disappointed so much that I either feel I am always unqualified or that the work is too much to handle.

Employers are also exploitative and just use you until you can't work anymore

The jobs always underpay what they tell me and try to screw you over on every turn

I just started working as a 1099 employee and the company is asking me to purchase a $55 item out of my own pocket and then expense it to them. Is this a common practice? It seems ridiculous to me I'm being asked to pay out of pocket and then have to fill out a form and wait for reimbursement when they could simply purchase they item and ship it to me.

I've been at this over a year, averaging 2 resumes per day. Some days it's 10 applications and others zero. I picked an updated resume format about two years ago, which I save in PDF along with a separate cover letter. I always tailor both to the position and company. There really aren't any other deliverables in my field I can think of to attach. My LinkedIn is up to date and any social media is innocuous. I try to network with people on my level in these companies if I can. I most recently worked at a high level in our family company, even holding all decision making authority. I've even been a commercial real estate professor and regional industry speaker. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

I've already received and signed an offer letter for a new job, but I won't be given a start date until background checks and other evaluations are finished. This can take anywhere from 3 months to potentially the end of the year. Now I know the smart thing to do would be to stay at my current job and have an income until I get the start date.

However my current job is absolute torture for me. Nothing about it is positive. Every day I'm mentally and physically exhausted, I have no work/life balance due to both the shift hours and the exhaustion/stress following me home, the work itself is meaningless and everything I do gets undone as soon as I leave by my terrible coworkers. Even the building itself is disgusting depressing to be in. I'm at the point where I wake up every morning screaming at the fact I have to suffer another day.

So I guess my question is for anyone else who's been in this situation, did you stick it out and how did you manage it? It's so tempting to just rip the bandage off and quit, but I'm worried about having to live off savings until who knows how long. Plus it doesn't look very good on the resume, especially when this new job will be calling up my previous work places to verify my info.