The offer letter mentions unpaid internship for 2 months, then may continue based on performance and requirements. But something else was discussed.

Obligatory throwaway, of course.

I (30sf) was hired on for a small commercial cleaning business to build the HR dept from ground up as they'd grown enough to need a dedicated department. Since end of Oct 2025 I have encountered SO much that I actually dont know what to do.

I've had to say "you can't not hire someone based on (age, pregnancy status, etc) because it's illegal to do so." And pointed it out to the CEO/president. But his brother and someone thats been here 10 years are the VPs and Ops Managers for customer accounts and staff coordination. All men over 40. I had the opportunity to partner with a county adults with disabilities program, funded by the state, and the younger of the 2 VPs said to my face, and I quote, "we've done something like that in the past and it just doesn't work out with those types of people."

Bith VPs have made comments like this frequently.

* "He's older, I dont know if he'll be able to do the job." Despite said candidate having years experience in the field and looked quite capable of the labor requirements and was really eager to possibly get going.

* "She's like 4 months pregnant, we'll put her on an account and have to replace her in a few months anyway."

* "He's got a weird growth on his head..."

* "She's tiny, I dont think it'll work out."

* employee broke contract/noncompete and was hired directly by a customer that ended their contract to do so and was filing for food stamps a few months later. Needed a confirmation of termination of employment. I needed a letter head and reached out to one of them and his response was "well, she screwed us over she can wait a few days"... no, I dont give a shit what happened you're not denying this to her because you feel like being petty. But I had to wait 2 days for the letterhead to be a le to send it to her.

And so many others in these months. Note, this is basic janitorial work. Pulling trash, sweep/mop/vacuum, clean bathrooms. I'm already actively looking and interviewing for another job. I recorded the most recent instance, my state doesn't have 2 party recording consent so only 1 person has to be aware and consent minimum, and the one VP is quoted as literally saying "I can discriminate on anything I want." Despite my vehemence that his mindset and actions are illegal.

I dont want to do anything that causes me to lose my job before I can leave it. I keep being told to do my job the way the CEO wants whether its in legal compliance or not.

I need advice from others in HR. I have a degree in business management with a focus in HR, but this is my first time basically BEING HR and I'm at a loss. There isn't anyone higher I can report this to...

ETA: they're considered a small business purely based on employee count. They have 4 entities under one umbrella name and about 70 employees across the 4. Revenue wise they're very much a medium sized business. And if all entities WERE under one tax id they would very much not qualify as a small business.

They also had me write the employee handbook practically from scratch. And asked about all the legal stuff that doesnt have to do with their own company policies.