Layoffs, Labor Violations, and a Founder's Giant New House: Cookie Giant Crumbl Is a Perfect Example of What Not to

Trying to save time or money on hiring often comes at a high price.

You cannot legally have people work for your for-profit company for free. It's a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Even interns must be paid if they do any work that adds value to the company. And that includes not having people work "trial shifts" for free: a lesson Crumbl Cookies apparently missed.

I reached out to Crumbl on October 5 asking for a response, but have received none. I wanted to know if this was a rogue manager or Crumbl policy. Although to be clear, having people come in and work for five hours for free to prove they want to do the job is illegal whether it's one manager or an official company ask.

Hiring is frustrating, and hiring for overnight work is definitely more challenging than hiring for daytime shifts, but you still can't require five hours of free labor.

Crumbl didn't respond, but it's probably because they are busy dealing with another public affairs disaster.

People claiming to be employees -- or former employees -- claim Crumbl Cookies laid off over 100 people. Utah-based news station KSL (Crumbl is headquartered in Lindon, Utah) attempted to verify the claims and couldn't get a response either. But to add to the bad news, there is a bad timing issue: Founder Sawyer Hemsley is posting Instagram footage of the massive new house he's having built.

Of course, founders are free to build fabulous houses, but all of this coming together at once is a bad look for Crumbl and bad for employees. Here are the lessons you should take away from this.

Follow employment law

Whether it's a rogue manager or company policy to ask people to work for free, Crumbl HQ should put a stop to it. This isn't the company's first problem with employment law. Last year, the Department of Labor accused Crumbl of violating child labor laws. You may think no one will notice or that it's not a big deal, but follow employment law and double-check with a qualified employment attorney if you're not certain.

Don't ignore press requests

I reached out to Crumbl. KSL reached out to Crumbl. And others undoubtedly did as well, and yet there was no response. If your lawyer tells you to be silent, that's the right thing to do. But, if not, ignoring these things doesn't make it go away. It would have been more powerful if the company had responded that it doesn't support this illegal behavior and clarified the supposed lawsuits. But it didn't.

Don't brag about your wealth while laying people off

I have no problem with companies conducting layoffs when needed. Demands change, and business needs change. That's not the issue. The problem comes when you couple ending people's jobs with an Instagram post about what you can do with all your money. Yes, you're excited, but this is a bad look.

Overall, don't make bad choices, and you'll do much better.

BY SUZANNE LUCAS, FREELANCE WRITER @REALEVILHRLADY article at https://www.inc.com/suzanne-lucas/layoffs-labor-violations-crumbl-cookies-what-not-to-do.html