Crystal, 38, worked at a restaurant in Texas.

"When the world started to shut down, they took the opportunity to pay people less—not equally, not more."

The Payment Protection Program has been touted as a way to help save small businesses from going under thanks to the ongoing, necessary lockdowns and social distancing measures across the U.S. but—big surprise—the program has already turned into a mockery. Not only has it been abused by a number of huge corporations, many of the smaller employers that it was intended to help keep afloat have been skirting the rules, and using their windfall as an excuse to mistreat and shortchange their workers. 

Crystal has been working at North Street, a brewpub based in San Marcos, TX, for about a year; she started out as a bartender, and was promoted to manager six months ago (though was still being paid hourly). She has a high school-aged son at home, and ended up having to quit her job after being lied to and placed in harm's way by her employers, who received a PPP grant.

This is her story.

On March 14, they let go of all of the front of house (FOH) staff and a few of the back of house (BOH) staff.

They cut my pay from $15 an hour to $12 (initially they said $8 or $10, but I talked them out of it). I'd work 42 hours in three and a half days. Myself and one other manager (who was salaried, but then cut back to hourly) staffed the FOH for curbside, while the kitchen staff kept us going. 

One of the salaried managers decided that he wasn't coming in until all this blew over, so in effect, four of us ran the restaurant during the crisis. They told us not to share tips with the kitchen, but my shifts we split even or more with them. The other manager did not split tips. We wore gloves and washed our hands religiously. Bleached and sanitized everything. 

On April 1 (my birthday) they informed all staff via text message and Homebase message that we were closing immediately. During the closure, they told the staff that if we didn't file for unemployment, they would fund us fully through the Paycheck Protection Program. Most of the kitchen and myself did not file for unemployment. The owners sent a message out during the closure letting staff know that they would have the option to stay on unemployment, or to return when we reopened.

On April 18, they informed us they'd received the PPP, and we were fully funded, and it was still an option to return or stay on unemployment.

On April 22nd, they started talking about reopening the restaurant, then on April 24, they gave us a date: April 27th. We had three days to get everyone informed and the restaurant prepared. 

Now, they told us to tell employees that they couldn't have PPP and unemployment, and that they would contact the Texas Workforce Commission in an attempt to get their unemployment benefits revoked. They told us everyone had to come back, including the parents of school-aged children, and they didn't allow those workers time to make arrangements. They told us that the staff on the PPP would be fully paid, but we got paid, and it was significantly less (think $200 a month). They told the people on unemployment who had only worked 15 hours a week that they had to report to the TWC that they were fully employed.  

They gave us a lot of misinformation. I think they may be lying to staff to keep their loan forgivable, but in the end they’re really hurting people. The rate of pay is unlivable for many of the staff. In effect, parents on unemployment were told they had to come back to work for less than they were getting before, $200-$400 for a biweekly paycheck. 

They recently brought back the manager who had decided to stay home. He and the other manager were fully funded through PPP, while the rest of the hourly staff (myself and the kitchen) were on average at a 20% loss per person per check. They tried to tell me that I worked 4 days a week, even though I kept their restaurant running throughout the crisis. The days we were there, we realized it will be impossible to maintain social distancing. It's unsafe. The kitchen isn't even 6 feet.

They took advantage of the people who worked the hardest for them, risking their health and livelihoods. I have pictures of the other managers watching us work. It is infuriating. The manager who had stayed home was talking loudly about lazy employees just wanting to stay home and get unemployment. I told him people were scared, and they were right to be. 

I went back for those three days to get the restaurant ready to open. I was starting to realize they were taking advantage of us, and that the managers weren't going to be working as hard, even though they were the only fully-funded staff. Hourly staff started sharing information between employees to see if we were all on the same page. It happened over the weekend, and the lawyers and union reps I tried to contact couldn't get back to me in time before we opened Monday, but AFL-CIO has an infographic that was helpful, and SEIU had some great information.

So we met, and realized the moms could stay home, the people on unemployment could stay on unemployment and file for reduced hours. The PPP staff could file for reduced hours. The other managers and I had a conversation where I was informed that the staff had to figure it out on their own, and I shouldn’t be involved. I told them that I was also upset and being taken advantage of. I also told them we couldn't share in the tips, because an email draft had gone out instructing the tips to be shared amongst all staff.

When confronted with the information, the owners didn't deny anything. After some negotiation, they decided they could allow some people a week to get child care arrangements figured out, or keep them furloughed for longer (they aren't required by the loan forgiveness to have everyone back until June 30th).

I decided after those two days of prepping the restaurant that I wasn't going back. I quit Monday. I have a kid and I could have been working hard with him at home, instead of making money for these guys. Since I've left I've heard they keep trying to call in staff to work extra hours. 

I don't think the public is aware of how the PPP works, and what options owners have in using the loan. There's no confidence that the owners would have ever given the correct information if we hadn't done the digging and pushed for answers, and they still didn't fix the pay issues with the kitchen staff. I don't know if the rest of the FOH staff knows they can file. They're asking people to come back and work, but they told us they would fully pay us. They didn't. 

Now, I’m hoping for community support. Public opinion matters, especially in a small town. People should know that they were essentially forcing staff to return under misinformation for unsustainable pay and under conditions that are not safe. These guys have multiple restaurants.  Maybe if the community holds them accountable, they will do the right thing.

They had an opportunity to do right by their employees, and at every turn, they took advantage of us. They cut pay, they gave us false information, and they asked us to lie. They never paid any of us a living wage, and when the world started to shut down, they took the opportunity to pay people less—not equally, not more.