When you clock in and out at work, you trust that your hours are being tracked accurately. But one man says his manager was editing his timesheet to short him on wages. The confrontation has sparked a conversation about wage theft and workplace accountability. In a viral video with more than 2.8 million views, mechanic Elijah Jones confronts his general manager at a Firestone location in Dallas after allegedly catching her editing his hours. His girlfriend Nikka (@.nikkaapooh) posted the tense footage on TikTok. The video shows Jones demanding proof of what he says he witnessed on the computer screen. "I need you to print that out. I ain't leaving till you print that out," he says in the video. The manager refuses. "I'm not printing anything." "You're editing my time. I clearly caught you editing my time trying to tell me I did something wrong," Jones continues. "You're the GM." The manager then tells Jones he needs to go home. According to the video's caption, this wasn't an isolated incident. Nikka explains that Jones had previously asked the manager to edit his time "due to system difficulties," but she treated each request "as if it was an enormous task or as if it wasn't possible." Yet when it allegedly benefited her, she could pull up his timesheet "with ease." "She changes the schedule without any announcements and so on," Nikka writes. "How she discriminates and acts towards him isn't a secret but she does it in a way that makes it hard to catch her." "Today he caught her editing his time and when he asked for a printed paper she start telling him go home and he’s fired. This is to spread awareness to young black men. Don’t accept being cheated of your skills and hard work," she adds. In a statement, a spokesperson from Firestone's parent company, Bridgestone, told Motor1, "We have seen the TikTok video and take matters like this very seriously. We are investigating this internally and will take appropriate action as needed. Our goal is to reach a clear understanding and ensure the concerns are addressed respectfully." Motor1 attempted to contact the woman named as the manager via LinkedIn. It is unclear whether she received the invitation, and we found no other means of contacting her. There are numerous Firestone locations in the Dallas, Texas area. It is not clear which one the video refers to. What Happened Next? In a follow-up video, Jones and Nikka address the termination and its immediate financial impact. Jones is a student at Universal Technical Institute (UTI) and was using the Firestone job to pay for his diesel mechanic training. "My boyfriend was fired, and it was just so crazy that that really had happened," Nikka says in the second video. "But, yeah, to us, we knew it was coming." Jones explains he'd been proactive about the situation, already applying to other jobs because he believed his manager was targeting him. He'd even strategically timed it so Firestone paid for his certifications before the anticipated termination. But losing the job still created an immediate crisis. Jones' school is an hour away, his job was an hour away, and he has monthly bills including his UTI tuition payments. "Instead of her trying to fix what's going wrong because at the end of the day, the whole issue is about time not being kept right," Jones explains. "Instead of fixing that issue, she was like, forget the entire problem. We're just gonna erase it and got rid of the entire person." He says that after being sent home that day, the manager removed him from the schedule for the rest of the month. Even if he found a new job immediately, he says the hiring process would take two to three weeks. The couple set up a GoFundMe to help cover expenses while Jones searches for new employment. They emphasized it's not a "cash grab" but rather a way for people who want to support them to do so. "I'm still a mechanic. I don't need a company to work. I got my own tools," Jones says. "If you need a service and you in Dallas, Texas, that's really what I'm looking at right now. I'm doing side jobs outside of work." What Does the Law Say? In 2011, Texas passed a law allowing prosecutors to file criminal charges (instead of just civil) for wage theft, a change that came after widespread reports of nonpayment, particularly in the construction industry, a law firm reported. Under this law, employers can face criminal prosecution if they intentionally fail to pay workers. That includes refusing to pay after promising payment or accepting work without following through on wages owed. An overwhelmed system stymies efforts to pursue wage theft cases. In fiscal year 2024, the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), the agency responsible for investigating wage theft claims, got more than 15,000 complaints, the highest number in nine years and double the amount from 2021, the Texas Observer reports. From the 12,400 cases investigated that year, the state ordered employers to pay back more than $10 million in wages. But there aren't enough investigators to handle the surge. An internal TWC audit revealed that, while investigators can close cases quickly once assigned, it takes months for complaints to even reach an investigator's desk. The agency's goal is to complete cases within 90 days of submission. In 2023, the average was 103 days. According to the Department of Labor, employers who willfully or repeatedly violate minimum wage or overtime requirements face civil penalties of up to $1,000 per violation. Willful violations can even result in criminal prosecution and fines up to $10,000, with a second conviction potentially leading to imprisonment. The TWC can supervise back wage payments, and workers also have the right to file private lawsuits for unpaid wages plus an equal amount in liquidated damages, attorney's fees, and court costs. There's a two-year statute of limitations for back pay recovery or three years if the violation was willful. But collecting those wages is another story. Research by Rutgers University found that between 2010 and 2020, TWC ordered $99 million in wages due across over 57,000 cases, but 80% of those wages still hadn't been recovered as of 2024. People urged Jones to consider reporting his manager. "DEPARTMENT OF LABORRRR WATCH HOW FAST HE GET A CHECK," a top comment read. "So she retaliated against you, which is illegal," another said. "Texas doesn’t play when it comes to theft of wages," wrote a third. Motor1 reached out to Jones via Nikka on TikTok direct message and comment. We'll be sure to update this if they respond. We want your opinion! What would you like to see on Motor1.com? Take our 3 minute survey. - The Motor1.com Team