My name is Lauren. This is my second time around being laid off work in South Lake Tahoe due to Covid-19. Luckily, this time around my partner has continued to work during the worst part of the pandemic, on the Nevada side of Tahoe. She has been supporting us for the past 2.5 months due to me being laid off. It has been extremely hard during the second shut down due to the influx of visitors and the discrepancy of state line guidelines of covid-19. To be honest and to the point, folks, including my partner, in the restaurant industry have suffered in a much different way then other industries through this pandemic, financially and mentally.
Today, we got some unfortunate news that my partner had been wrongfully terminated from her bartending job. She was terminated for 2 incidents. One incident was making a remark on Social media. This was months ago. The remark was factual and true regarding the covid cases that were happening within the Casino. They found out about her remark and she recieved disciplinary action. The second incident happened last week. She had guests at the bar that enjoyed their experience and had no complaints. Upon gathering their receipt, they had left her a 5% tip, signed the receipt with a heart and left their Instagram handle for my partner to follow them.
This is where it gets messy. She took a photo of the receipt, of the tip and the IG handle, making sure to leave all private info (casino name, restaurant name, guests name and card info,) out of the photo. She sent the photo to me because she new I would understand why leaving a 5% tip and then your Instagram handle would be a bit comical.
I, without her knowledge, sent the photo to a local Tahoe comedy page who then reposted. Little did I know, that folks would take his Instagram handle and give him hell for his 5% tip. The guest began to call the restaurant repeatedly, complaining about the messages that were being sent to his Instagram. My partners manager called her within 45 minutes of the photo being posted to the locals Instagram page. She had no idea until she asked me and I told her I sent it. I immediately had the photo removed from the page. A week later, and after some sort of investigation, they terminated her. There is nowhere in the employee handbook that says you cannot take a photo of a receipt which is what they terminated her for. I believe this is wrongful because she had no part in what happened.
I'm here to ask for any kind of support you may be able to share during these uncertain, challenging times.
Thank you so very much for taking time to read our story.
Today, we got some unfortunate news that my partner had been wrongfully terminated from her bartending job. She was terminated for 2 incidents. One incident was making a remark on Social media. This was months ago. The remark was factual and true regarding the covid cases that were happening within the Casino. They found out about her remark and she recieved disciplinary action. The second incident happened last week. She had guests at the bar that enjoyed their experience and had no complaints. Upon gathering their receipt, they had left her a 5% tip, signed the receipt with a heart and left their Instagram handle for my partner to follow them.
This is where it gets messy. She took a photo of the receipt, of the tip and the IG handle, making sure to leave all private info (casino name, restaurant name, guests name and card info,) out of the photo. She sent the photo to me because she new I would understand why leaving a 5% tip and then your Instagram handle would be a bit comical.
I, without her knowledge, sent the photo to a local Tahoe comedy page who then reposted. Little did I know, that folks would take his Instagram handle and give him hell for his 5% tip. The guest began to call the restaurant repeatedly, complaining about the messages that were being sent to his Instagram. My partners manager called her within 45 minutes of the photo being posted to the locals Instagram page. She had no idea until she asked me and I told her I sent it. I immediately had the photo removed from the page. A week later, and after some sort of investigation, they terminated her. There is nowhere in the employee handbook that says you cannot take a photo of a receipt which is what they terminated her for. I believe this is wrongful because she had no part in what happened.
I'm here to ask for any kind of support you may be able to share during these uncertain, challenging times.
Thank you so very much for taking time to read our story.