Bengaluru man claims brother, 19, exploited at Zepto Cafe, faces 13-day pay loss

India Today

3 days ago

A Bengaluru man called out the alleged mistreatment of his 19-year-old brother at a Zepto Cafe warehouse.In a detailed post on Reddit that has since gone viral, the man accused the Zepto Cafe in Marathahalli-3 of exploiting his younger brother, a warehouse employee. He claimed the teenager, who had been working long shifts to make ends meet, faced harassment from colleagues and bias from seniors, and is now being threatened with a 13-day salary cut after refusing to comply with an unscheduled demand for overtime.advertisement
'My brother (19 years old) works at the Zepto warehouse in Marathahalli-3, Bangalore, specifically inside the Zepto Cafe,' the man said. 'My brother is far from home, working hard to survive,' the user wrote. On June 3, the teen reportedly completed a 5pm to 2am shift. After the match-day celebration of RCB's IPL win, he received a sudden message from the cafe manager, who asked him to report back at 8am the next morning, just hours after his previous shift ended.'Suddenly, he got a message from the cafe manager telling him to report again at 8 AM the next day (June 4th) that's just a few hours later. He refused, and here's why: He was already scheduled for the evening shift, not the morning. He would've barely had 4-5 hours of sleep. No point unless you just pressure to show up. And after working hard, celebrating a rare RCB win is not a crime,' he added. advertisementHe declined the demand and pointed out that he was already scheduled for the evening shift on June 4. The fallout was swift. According to the post, the cafe lead told him not to come in at all and allegedly threatened to withhold 13 days' worth of wages.'And what happened next? He got a call from the cafe lead saying 'Don't come at all anymore!' - and they're now threatening to withhold 13 days of salary,' the man said.The post went deeper into the work environment as the man claimed his teen brother reportedly faced frequent harassment from a local co-worker, who allegedly monitored and falsely accused him.'On top of that, the work culture inside Zepto Cafe is extremely toxic: A local employee keeps harassing and falsely accusing him. If my brother uses his phone for even a minute, the guy runs to complain. If he speaks to other north Indian coworkers in Hindi, he gets accused of 'talking nonsense' or 'insulting the lead' — for simply talking in his own language,' the brother claimed in his post. The user added that other workers were allegedly made to create PowerPoint presentations unnecessarily, and resting during downtime drew shouts from the lead. 'It's discrimination, plain and simple,' he wrote.advertisementThe man said he has not filed a formal complaint yet, but is now actively exploring escalation routes. 'We haven't taken any formal steps yet, no complaints filed, no escalation, but we're seriously considering it. We'd really appreciate: Advice on what to do next, If anyone has experience with Zepto's HR or escalation paths and if there's anyone local in Bangalore who's dealt with similar issues, your support would mean the world to us,' the user said. Take a look at his post here: Zepto has not yet issued a response to the viral post. This copy will be updated soon as they react to the viral post. Trending Reel