u/Bubbly_Spite513

Hi, I’d like some legal help about a situation at my old job in Illinois. I’m 16 and worked as a shift lead at a fast food restaurant while going to high school full time. I was working around 33–40 hours a week, often 6–7 days a week, and management would schedule us under 5.5 hours to avoid giving breaks. I started at $15/hour and later got raised to $17 when I was officially made shift lead.

The workplace became very stressful, especially after I had an argument with the kitchen manager (“A”). After that, he constantly targeted me, and I felt unsafe around him. He had even gotten into a physical altercation with another manager before and wasn’t disciplined. I would get so anxious around him that I’d shake or almost cry at work.

Managers would often leave me, a 16-year-old, in charge at night. We were also pressured to stay later than scheduled and serve customers past closing. One night, after a very stressful rush with only me and another minor coworker working front, we decided to quit and leave after all customers were gone. We cleaned everything, clocked out, and left. We accidentally left our headsets outside because we were too scared to go back in after seeing A in the kitchen.

Afterward, the owner spam-called me and threatened legal action, claiming we stole or damaged the headsets. Police contacted us, but they couldn’t prove we did anything criminally wrong and said it was a civil matter. Now former coworkers are saying the restaurant may sue us. What should I do?

Hi, I’d like some legal advice about a situation at my old job in Location: Illinios. I’m 16 and worked as a shift lead at a fast food restaurant while going to high school full time. I was working around 33–40 hours a week, often 6–7 days a week, and management would schedule us under 5.5 hours to avoid giving breaks. I started at $15/hour and later got raised to $17 when I was officially made shift lead.

The workplace became very stressful, especially after I had an argument with the kitchen manager (“A”). After that, he constantly targeted me, and I felt unsafe around him. He had even gotten into a physical altercation with another manager before and wasn’t disciplined. I would get so anxious around him that I’d shake or almost cry at work.

Managers would often leave me, a 16-year-old, in charge at night. We were also pressured to stay later than scheduled and serve customers past closing. One night, after a very stressful rush with only me and another minor coworker working front, we decided to quit and leave after all customers were gone. We cleaned everything, clocked out, and left. We accidentally left our headsets outside because we were too scared to go back in after seeing A in the kitchen.

Afterward, the owner spam-called me and threatened legal action, claiming we stole or damaged the headsets. Police contacted us, but they couldn’t prove we did anything criminally wrong and said it was a civil matter. Now former coworkers are saying the restaurant is trying to sue us. What should I do?