Employment/Labor Am I being treated unlawfully at work?

I have been working at the same Flower Market in L.A., California for almost 4 years. I am rightfully employed to work in this country.

I don't know much about California labor laws but I feel like something is not right. The shop is very large and there are a handful of employees. I get paid cash and once he told me I shouldn't file taxes because he doesn't report me. I'm not sure if that's right or not. Because of that, I have to pay the IRS hundreds of dollars each year, even though I make less than 20,000 a year because I have to file as an independent contractor since he isn't paying me in check.

I was told by him that I would come out of work at a certain time, no later than 4 PM. Now, I go in either at 4 AM or 5 AM and don't come out of work until 6 PM. That's over 12 hours of work per day and I don't get paid overtime nor do I get an hour lunch break or even small breaks in between.
My boss humiliates me in front of customers and other employees. For example, he will sometimes demand that I do things for him like serve him his food or take his shoes off when he is tired because he is "the boss".
I park in front of our shop and pay $5 per parking daily because I go in to work so early that I'd rather pay than walk half a mile at that time in that part of downtown. He parks where it is free and walks that half mile. At closing time, he will also demand that I go get his car for him and he says I am being paid for that. Other times when he knows I am hungry and tired and have taken no break he will send me to go get food for him and his friends and they will eat in front of me without offering. Of course they don't have to offer me any, but when I bring my food he always has to take some of it because he is "the boss". I'm just so fed up with this situation.

When I started the job, I was hired as a florist/cashier not for personal assistance.

He said I would make 100 dollars per day though he did not specify I was on salary and that was in the beginning when I was supposed to have a schedule. I still make that per day but I am working 3-4 extra hours with no break and on top of this, he pays me whenever he feels like it.
For holidays, we work about 16 hour days for the same pay - except I am only paid for my 3 scheduled days and not for the other days I labored. He says the economy is so bad that if we want to keep our job we have to help each other out.

In other words, he threatens with losing our job is we don't work when he needs us to work.

Most of my frustration is for the way he treats me. I'm 55 years old and I don't think it's fair that at my age or anybody for that matter, should have to go through this. Most people ask me why I stay and the truth is, I don't have other choices. At my age it is hard to find a job, more so in the financial circumstances our economy is in.

I just want to know if my daily complaining is worth anything? Is there anything I can do, or do I just have to live with it?





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