They offered us an administrative position and housekeeping/cashier position. This was below the pay grade we are accustomed to, but they gave us free camping on their grounds. We had initially thought that even though they had only offered us $10 per hour, it would balance out with the cost of living. Although there is a caveat to this, they don't pay their staff and the conditions we lived in were that of a homeless person.
We were told we would have water and use of a hot shower house while on property. However, we had no water for the first 2 weeks of our employment. We were bathing with water we toted into our campsite by gallon jugs. We could also go into town and pay $5 each to shower at the local rec center. After a few weeks we finally relocated on the grounds and had water, but still no shower. We were showering under a cold house exposed to the elements and people. Once they finally opened the shower houses, they were almost inhabitable, but we were desperate for a shower. The shower houses smell of mildew, are inundated with mosquitos, flies, tics and even frogs. In the afternoon after my wife spent the day cleaning rodent droppings, she was desperate to use the shower house. It was barely tolerable as the temperature was so hot you sweat instantly after you were done. But she was just happy she cleaned the feces off her body. If you were lucky enough to be a manager, they allowed you to stay in one of their employee trailers. The trailers were riddled with mold and had a distinct urine smell. The premier park model trailers they rent to their guests are previously used FEMA trailers. These trailers should only be relocated 3 times and the government sells them off when they no longer find them suitable for people to live in. Glencoe bought these trailers and rents them to guests. They charge their guests with bracelets over $3k to stay for one week.
Now, on to the real issue at hand... they don't pay their staff their full wages. They pay bi-weekly. We had noticed in our first check it seemed a little off. We were then told by fellow coworkers that we must make sure we are clocked in and out at exact times or they round to the nearest 15 minutes in their favor. So, if you clock-in at 8:01, you get paid from 8:15 on. If you clock-out at 4:59, you stopped getting paid at 4:45. Now, I may not have been excited about this unethical practice, but I was willing to play by their rules. The next pay period we both noticed our check was short 2-3 hours. We both realized by the time were told of their rule, we had already missed a minute here or a minute there. We were a bit defeated, but we put our tail between our legs and put up with it. Then on our last pay period we noticed both our paychecks were both distinctly short by 5 hours even though we worked in different departments, different hours and monitored our clocking times closely, even taking pictures of our time cards. This is the day we quit.
On this day we were told they do not pay their employees at the time the clock-in. We had thought we were following their rules, but apparently, we missed one. If you clock-in at 8, they pay you at 8:15. If you clock out perfectly at 5, they pay you until 4:45. The explanation given to us was, "the time is adjusted for walking to and from the time clock." So, when I was using the clock on the wall in the office that read 6 and made to the time clock at 6, I was paid until 5:45. Their justification was, I was not working. The time clock was only a matter of feet from where I worked. So, in this case if they saw 6 on my time card, they said well it took you 5 minutes to walk 30 feet and therefor it was really 5:55 when you stopped working. Now, because it is 5:55, you fall into the 15-minute rule and it was 5:45. Every week they dock their employees 2. 5 hours (30 minutes every day),5 hours every pay period. They pay (for the most part) every employee $10 per hour. At the time we left they had roughly 120 employees. They were skimming $6,000 every pay period from their employees. Not only is this illegal, it is unethical. They pray on the desperate and misfortunate. They know they employees are not catching this. However, this time they hired people looking for a new experience, not desperation. They have had many complaints made about them with the labor board.
They also require the employees to sign a "mini contract". This contract states that if an employee quits or fails to show up during their contracted period, they will deduct the cost of their bracelet for admission to their "resort" and the cost of camping. While we did not get one of their hook-up sites.UPDATE: As of August 12, 2019, they are not going to pay us. They said it was not the cost of the bracelets, however the cost of camping. They charged us over $500 to camp in an un-mowed field with no bathrooms and no water. This morning, along with 8 other employees we are going to the labor board. read more
