Did I Experience Work Retaliation/ Is It Grounds To Report To Osha?

Location: Idaho

I apologize in advance for the length. I don't want to leave out any details.

I believe I've experienced retaliation at my work in the form of intimidation/hostile environment after anonymously reporting them to my local public health department.

It's a little bakery cafe spot in my town. I worked there from October 2024 to this month, I quit yesterday after feeling very heavily pressured to do so. I had talked to one of my three managers, let's call him Bob, about concerns I had prior to reporting them. I reported them 5/30. I expressed my concerns to Bob at least a few months or so prior, and some things were addressed, while most things were not. I'm pretty sure I was the only person there to have taken the test to get my food handlers permit (when I was hired, I was told it was required to work there, but then they never asked for proof). I guess it wasn't really much of a secret that I was the one who reported them considering I was the one who went to my Bob with concerns, and in the email I sent to the health department, it had specific things that only an employee would know about.

All three of my managers put together a mandatory meeting for 6/10, a day that I had requested off at least 12 days prior. Bob told me it was okay for me to miss the meeting and he just gave me a brief rundown, and how the meeting was just going to mostly be about the visit from health inspector. (I'm not sure what day the health inspector came in, but I wasn't there that day)

On 6/13, I was pulled aside by all three managers to go over the meeting I had missed. One of the things they mentioned, that is important to note, is that all three managers should be respected equally. They said how there has been issues with people only listening to one manager, we'll call her Sarah. She is the one I've had most issues with, if not all. In this same meeting, they also explained how in the email that was sent to the health department, it had very specific things in there that only someone in the building would know about. They were pressuring me, trying to get me to confess. Sarah, the most intimidating of the three, did not speak a word this whole meeting, but rather glared at me the entire time. I remained calm, did not admit to anything. It was very uncomfortable. It was more of an interrogation than a meeting.

I also want to note that, prior to the report, I was getting around 32-22 hours a week. Then I was only getting scheduled 7 or 8 hours a week, and was even told one day that they didn't need me to come in at all. I suspect this was retaliation, but I don't have proof. I texted the manager who made the schedule, we can call her Olivia, on 6/19. I asked if there was a reason for less hours, and if I would be getting more. I didn't get a response.

Fast forward to yesterday. Before I walked into my shift, I started audio recording on my phone. I do live i a one-party consent state. I just had a feeling that one of the managers was going to say something to me. I had just clocked in, went to the back to grab something, and the manager Sarah asked to speak with me upstairs. She first tells me she knows that I reached out to Olivia about my hours, but she didn't reply because it was her day off. She said it was because they've hired lots of new people and have been training them.

She then tells me, "I do want to be really honest with you, we know you're the one who called the health department. So I just honestly want to know why you still want to work here." This is where I admittedly should've replied differently, stood my ground, deny knowing anything. It was intimidating, I began getting interrogated yet again. I was put on the spot and didn't know how to respond. I did admit to her that I don't really want to work there anymore, but I can't just leave without backup. Then she tells me, "that feels kind of selfish". Then she stated they of course aren't going to let me go over it, but that "everyone knows it was me". I said how I know it wasn't very discreet. Then I explained to her how I had already gone to Bob previously about concerns I had, how I would witness a food safety violation done by Bob and tell him we shouldn't be doing that, but he wouldn't listen and would do it anyway. To my surprise, she asked me why I never told her or Olivia. I said I assumed that all of them discuss concerns among themselves. She begins to say how he's "not even a manager", even though in the previous meeting we had, I was told how they are all equal and she be treated as such. I found that to be pretty contradicting. She proceeds to tell me she is the manager of the whole store, and just that just because one person didn't address it, I could have talked to someone else?????

I explained that my intention wasn't to get them shut down, but I felt that my concerns weren't being taken seriously after I had already gone to one of the "managers". I said it felt it was a last resort, and she replies, "well I hope you learned that it's not". She told me I "didn't go through all the channels, I jumped straight to the one that could get them in trouble". Then she adds that it was "not cool, and the fact that I did that and continue to show up and get a paycheck is pretty.. (shitty)". At this point I had been feeling the pressure pretty heavily from management, especially Sarah, so I opted that I could just leave. She said, "no, I just know you've been wanting hours and every time we talk to you, you say you like your job, and we gave you every opportunity to talk to us about a week ago and you didn't, so I just wanted to know, in reality, why are you still here? If you were willing to go to that extreme, I just don't see why you're continuing to work here." I told her I didn't really have an answer. Then she said "it's up to you, if you want to leave today, that's your call, we're not letting you go over this. Don't feel like you're going to leave us high and dry over this if you want to leave. Otherwise, the schedule is how it is."

I didn't think I really had a choice. Stay and work the shitty hours I now had and feel unwelcome, or leave and do them a favor (which I know now I should not have done). I didn't want to continue my shift knowing that clearly she didn't want me working there but knew she couldn't just fire me. It definitely felt hostile and had been for awhile at this point. This was the breaking point. I walked back downstairs about to go into the restroom to collect my thoughts, and Sarah following behind me stopped me as I was about to and asked if I was choosing to leave. I said I was. Then she asked if I could fill out a quick notice. I hesitated, not knowing how she would react if I declined, but I reluctantly agreed to anyways.

I know I royally messed up here, especially with signing this paper, but would this be considered constructive discharge? Did I ruin any chance I have at contacting OSHA successfully by agreeing to sign? I have the audio recording of the conversation yesterday, but not the one with all three managers. We aren't allowed to have our phones on us while we're working so I don't really have much of anything. No texts either, aside from me asking Olivia about my hours, which I never even got a response to. I filled out the whole form to OSHA yesterday but didn't go through with sending it out of fear that I'm overreacting to this whole situation and I could get myself in trouble. Advice would be much appreciated!