Employer possibly paying me wrong, possibly made to break DOT HOS by termination, public safety??

I've always done physical labor, such as roofing, pour concrete, water mitigation, mold remediation, fire damage, natural disaster clean up, ship fitter, welding, etc.
All dangerous in their own way, and been a Crew chief, self employed, w2, field inspector, laboror, and many more titles and jobs and all that.

To be 100% almost all the companies in the areas I've worked don't offer benifits. And if they do they only meet you 50%-50%, which at starting income you can't afford for sure. That's in any line of work I just listed, hell new ship building(fitter) which is the like 4th most dangerous job on earth make like $14 a hour at a facility building the new US Coast Guard Cutters which is also the biggest military naval contract ever if I'm not mistaken. That much money, publicity, exposure, and danger, still no drastic pay or benifits.

And I can do management stuff, I just can't do it when the variables that change price, when we respond and don't, etc aren't known and intentionally hidden to keep people unsure. Like when I was working with insurance asjusters on a house with water damage. You cant give exact numbers but when trained you get between 2 numbers with a gap as small as possible and close as you can to spot on. When untrained its impossible to even guess in the ballpark.
And I didn't known if my pay was really that off until I got my 2nd check for reference and the 3rd I for sure knew. I'll be receiving my 4th in the mail. As I said not long right? But yea he knew I had to have a job, had no training or experience in this field, and basically said "figure it out don't mess up oh and we are gonna make sure your as tired as possible too".

But I tried to better summarize and clear up bad communication on my part if you wanna read and comment on my post that says please read. Either way I thank you for the reply

 

You right an for me it's worth nothing. Not including a lawyer and the time. But my friend if he was owed hourly and OT he'd be owed into the 6 figures easily. So I was more trying to help him since now he just wants to quit and walk away immediately but the lawyers for the most part said for him to do it differently while they research since there's so much more at steak financially. Mainly that whistle-blower protection first then everything else comes easier after that report is filed.