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He made 2k a month with tips. I was not protected by any labor laws as I was a contractor and not an employee (their way to get around benefits and employee related regulations).

I'm also living in a first world country where costs of living are fairly expensive and where I don't have free housing (and food I presume), so I was living hand to mouth without health insurance.

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The employee worked over 75 hours a week, but routinely had his timesheets rewritten to show 40. When he complained, he had some of his works taken away. When he was seriously injured in his job, his injury was laughed off as a lie and he was sent back to work anyway. I think it's fair to say that this person has a unique set of extremely challenging circumstances different than what you described. I'm not sure what we have to gain by dismissing these henious labor violations. Even if it was just as bad for you (I doubt it), would that invalidate this person's experience, or mean we shouldn't investigate these crimes?

Except for the timesheet thinng, the rest is common in manual labor jobs in the US. An orange picker goes to his boss with a sore back? Fired.

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