I was employed by Panera for 8 months as Assistant Manager. I was belittled by Michelle (General Manager) on a daily basis and she would just call it a "roast" in an effort to make all the nasty things she would say seem ok. I loved my job but did not agree with how the store was run. Over 50% of the staff participates in the use of drugs. It was no secret because it was openly talked about between all the employees. Michelle told me not to say anything because we would lose all our staff and not have anyone to work for us. 8 out of 10 times that you went into Panera for lunch or dinner, you were most likely being servered by a high employee.
On October 20 I was sexually assulted by one of the shift managers named Mike. I had complained many times previously about his sexual passes at work. Michelle always replied, "That's just how Mike is. Don't read into." But little did I know what he was capable of. He left a number of bruises on my body and scars of relentless memories. The next day he begged me not to tell anyone and that he didn't really remember what happened because he was too drunk. Come to find out, I was not the first as he had already done this to one of the associates as well. When I told Michelle, she told me to keep my mouth shut and not get HR involved because that would bring negative attention to our store. Mike ended up quitting by the end of the day. I filed a police report and took pictures of what he did to my body. Work became a difficult place to be and I ended up in the hospital for a week only to find out that I was unknowingly pregnant. When I tried to return to work, I was told I was fired because Michelle and Sara (District Mgr) did not believe I was actually in the hospital. When I asked HR why I was fired, they knew nothing about it and Michelle was forced to rehire me because I had proof for being in the hospital.
I returned to work to find another Assistant Manager to take my place. I told Michelle the good news of pregnancy and she told me I should keep it to myself because if our District Manager found out, she would find some way to fire me. I continued working for about 3 weeks while I was ignored and glared at daily. I asked Michelle what was going on and she said, "Everyone is mad that you went on vacation!" I did not go on "vacation", I went to the hospital for a week because I was not mentally stable enough to deal with all the stresses at the time! Michelle ended up sitting me down sometime in November to tell me that she was going to bring Mike back on board because he needed the money and that she would just try to schedule us opposite shifts. I was told that I didn't have a say in the matter. On November 22 I noticed some cramping and spotting while I was at work. I called Michelle to let her know I need to see a doctor and she said to wait until she got in. She arrived later that morning and I rushed to the ER. After all results came back I was told there were two sacs but no heartbeats found. I miscarried my twins 3 days later.
The store got the tip that we were going to be audited within the next week. I was told that I was expected to work on my days off to prepare for the audit. I told her I could not work on my days off because I could not find child care for my son for those days. She proceeded to harrass me over text. When my fiance got home, I drove up to the store to confront her. She called me selfish and the worst assistant manager she ever had. I handed over my keys right at the moment. She seemed very happy with herself which led me to believe this is what she wanted the whole time. I could not take it anymore. I was constantly beat down verbally and told to keep my mouth shut when I should have spoken up. Panera Bread was by far the WORST company I have ever worked for. I have recored evidence for EVERYTHING I have stated here as do the detectives on this case. Good food bad people=never going back there again!
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