North Carolina Department of Labor

Our teen daughter has been employed at the Taco Bell at the intersection of MLK and Neuse, here in New bern, NC since October of 2021. She has never called out, has always been on time to work, has volunteered numerous times to come in when called.

I spoke with the general manager Friday September 16th by the name of Katie. I voiced numerous concerns that myself, our 17 year old daughter as well as a majority of her coworkers had. I let the general manager know that the staff there are miserable because one of the main problems is the store manager (Deidrshell Reed) is doing corrupt things. Therefore if a crew member files a complaint, she is not following through by possibly showing favoritism to the person that the employee is filing a complaint against( one recent incident was one of the minors had to work a night shift with one of the managers that comes in on a regular basis intoxicated smelling of alcohol & smelling / high off of marijuana with her eyes being bloodshot red(manager Janetta Pompy).

The store manager(Deidreshell Reed) witnessed this but did not write that manager up and told one of the crew members(a 16yrs old) that if they saw that manager in that intoxicated state to let her know the next time and then she would write her up)- that manager should have been written up right on the spot because that goes against company policy. That minor has been picked on ever since the incident and she already suffers from anxiety and depression. There are staff that need to file complaints against the store manager(Deidrshell Reed), but they have no way of being able to contact the general manager that is over her to let her know about these concerns so since they have not been able to I did. The last concern that I brought to the general manager Katie, was the fact that our daughter said that ever since she started working there, only the store manager charges all of the other staff to charge their cell phones.

The excuse that was given by a manager by the name of George, who (lied) to staff who worked with him last Tuesday was that him and the other managers checks are drafted to help cover the overhead expenses at Taco bell. When my daughter told me this I told her that is not true at all. Her being naive, thought that this was the reason for justifying why the store manager is the only one that collects $2 every time an employee needs to charge their cell phone at work. My daughter actually kept documentation and sent it to me.

The store manager has been asking other people face to face when she works with them to give her the $2 so that they can charge their phone but I told my daughter please anytime you can make sure you have documentation so that I have proof to back you. Here is a screenshot of the conversation (the store manager was not working that night, yet the surveillance camera is pointing only to the outlet and she questioned my daughter about where was her $2 as soon as my daughter plugged her phone in. My daughter was instructed to give her $2 to the manager that was on shift that night so she did so. But she did notify me of this.

My daughter said they have a habit of manipulating the minors that work there giving them a hard time. Prayerfully the general manager Katie addresses the numerous of concerns that I gave her last week. I left a voicemail at the Taco Bell in James City, on Sept 16th, for her to return my call so that I could give her this documentation, but she has yet to do so. It bothers me that she did inform me around noon on Friday that the current store manager is moving into the position as assistant general manager and I do not want any other employees having to suffer the consequences of being manipulated by an authority figure.

Her crude treatment of staff is the reason for the high turnover rate at that specific Taco Bell. The staff are miserable with the continuous bad treatment. Our daughter is transferring to a different Taco Bell in the same city to get away from the negativity and toxic work environment at the first store.

She loves her job but not the bad treatment and manipulation of her and her coworkers. I can be reached at 252675****.