You cannot legally have people work for your for-profit company for free. It’s a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Even interns must be paid if they do any work that adds value to the company. And that includes not having people work “trial shifts” for free: a lesson Crumbl Cookies apparently missed.
I reached out to Crumbl on October 5 asking for a response, but have received none. I wanted to know if this was a rogue manager or Crumbl policy. Although to be clear, having people come in and work for five hours for free to prove they want to do the job is illegal whether it’s one manager or an official company ask.
To keep reading, click here: Layoffs, Labor Violations, and a Founder’s Giant New House: Cookie Giant Crumbl Is a Perfect Example of What Not to Do
Not excusing Crumbi in this situation, but this probably occurred because the company which started out as a home-based product expanded too rapidly to get all the Ps & Qs lined up right. At least now, hopefully, with this brought to their attention, they will have to follow the labor laws in each location store. Personally, I thought this product offered –giant cookies with toppings–is a sugar-fiend nightmare, too much for one individual.
“This isn’t the company’s first problem with employment law. Last year, the Department of Labor accused Crumbl of violating child labor laws.”
This isn’t “expanded too quickly to keep up,” it’s “(we think) we’re too smart to have to obey the law.”
Anybody with the wherewithal to start a business, who is capable of functioning as an adult in the US, should know better than to have people work unpaid at all, ever, and should know better than to not consult with an employment attorney about the legal restrictions when employing minors.
And anybody who doesn’t need a keeper would have learned after $50,000+ in fines in their first rodeo that they need professional HR, and not tomorrow, they need it yesterday. There’s *no* excuse for the 2nd offense. If they’re that stupid, they need to be put out of business as a matter of public safety.