I think what was done to her was monstrous , but possibly a result of being involved with criminal stuff in the first place they ' re not afraid of her reporting them because they know she won ' t go near the police . Like you , I have a family . At the beginning of this year , a family member stayed with us to get clean . He did , and shortly after fell off the wagon . To protect my family , I asked him to move out . Given this is rethics , I think the same situation applies you have to protect your family first . <| sep |> Good thing there is no hate in your post then , lmao . <| sep |> AFAIK a decent amount of places do pay less than 8 . 25 , but that focuses on part time jobs and entry level . A lot of retail or food places . But with raising to 8 . 25 , workers are going to want compensation . Say you make 9 . 00 now . You ' ve been at your store for almost two years . The minimum at the moment is 7 . 25 but your store starts workers at 8 . 00 . so . 75 above minimum , but if the minimum goes to 8 . 25 , then that undercuts your stores minimum . Either they will just have the starting pay at 8 . 25 or raise it 9 . 00 to attract workers . But wait , if they raise it 9 . 00 starting , all of a sudden a worker at 9 . 00 starting out makes the same as a person working there for 2 years . That long time employee will want to go up , say to compensate around 10 . 00 or so . EDIT I think it will really affect small businesses in Cedar Rapids and Marion , and will be interesting at places like HyVee , where the large stores start at 10 . 00 but the drug stores vary .