Location: Illinois Hey everyone, using a throwaway for privacy. I need some outside perspective on a situation that just forced me to quit my retail job. I'm a minor, and it's a story about retaliation and a toxic environment. The Initial Issue: A few weeks ago, I filed a formal, anonymous report with my company's ethics hotline. The reason was that management was consistently making me, a minor, stay past the legal clock-out time. (9:45) This was a clear violation of both company policy and state labor laws. My report was officially accepted and logged with a case number. The Retaliation Begins: Almost immediately after my report was filed and acknowledged, my hours were brutally slashed. I went from a consistent 20-25 hours a week down to a single 5-hour shift. There was no explanation for this—no drop in performance, no prior warnings. Just a sudden, drastic cut that felt like a direct punishment for speaking up. I have screenshots of my schedule before and after as proof. The Final Straws & Unprofessionalism: Fed up with the obvious retaliation, I submitted my two-week notice. Shortly after, things got even more unprofessional. I accidentally overheard two leaders trash-talking me over the store radio (I had forgotten to switch back to the main channel). They were complaining about how "annoying" I was for asking about cross-training and said I should be ignored. It was humiliating, especially since other coworkers and even customers overheard it. Later, one of these leaders started micromanaging me, ordering me to do tasks that were already completed. When I pointed that out, I was given busywork like cleaning bathrooms with a sarcastic "there's always something to do." Why I'm Posting: I've officially quit. My family and I are now looking into reporting this to our state's department of labor. But I wanted to get your thoughts. · Has anyone else faced retaliation after using a company's ethics hotline? I thought it was supposed to be protected. · Does this clearly sound like illegal retaliation? The timing of the hour cuts seems like way too much of a coincidence. · For those who know, how strong does this case seem? I have documentation of the report, the schedule changes, and a log of the unprofessional behavior. It's incredibly discouraging to be treated this way for trying to report a legitimate violation. Thanks for reading. Any advice or similar stories are appreciated.