GradImages Employees: Be Aware

I recently just started as a photographer with GradImages. For the longest time they were trying to get their employees to believe they're 1099. In my last interview, the regional manager said "because some complained, now we have to make you W2." I signed a W2 form. However, I've learned that there's so many employees who have been with this company (for over 10-15 years!) who still believe they're 1099. You're not. You're a W2 employee and you deserve to be compensated the full amount. You are being misclassified.

They are NOT tracking your hours correctly, and they're refusing to pay me the correct amount. They've cold fired me, won't acknowledge I was terminated, and completly ghosted me since I started asking more about how my pay works. Once I started to ask questions, they locked me out of the HR portal where I can view my paystub- but they still expected me to show up and work?

They like to say "you only get paid $100 per event, we don't pay hourly." Which okay, I guess they can legally do that- but when you take into consideration the driving hours, the hours you spend prepping for events, waiting for events, communicating to managers, spending money for gas, you actually get less than minimum wage. They refuse to pay for ANY hours outside of their "100$ event fee (for four hours)."

If you know someone who works for this company, please let them know. This is an awful awful company, and I'm not one to blast. But they PREACH "professionalism," yet the MANAGEMENT IS THE LEAST PROFESSIONAL PEOPLE IVE MET.

Anyway, I'm filing with my state labor board. This past weekend I worked 50 hours, they only claimed I worked 32.

Edit: Also, as a customer, do NOT buy from them. They are literally hiring ANYBODY. People who have never picked up a camera are expected to take your graduates' photos. Images are constantly blurry, underexposed, poor quality. If you are an experienced photographer, they make you do multiple positions while being labeled as an "assistant" when you first start out. They do NOT pay you for that either.