The pay is exceptionally low. They start their lab techs at around 15/hr (which for Nashville is absurd) and give 50 cent raises every few months.
The equipment is cheap and old, and the lab buildings are deteriorated; during the summer we have leaks, high humidity, high temperatures, and condensation all around the lab. Fume hoods constantly break. These issues cause QC failures. Clients frequently have to resample because we either run out of sample volume or can't get samples to pass within hold due to insufficient staffing/dysfunctional equipment.
On paper it's a 40 hr/week schedule, but for most of the year (i.e. not winter) you'll usually work 45-50 hrs/week. Mandatory overtime and coming in on weekends is a regular occurrence.
Local management has unrealistic expectations of the amount of work we can actually perform. Employees frequently take shortcuts, make errors, and don't follow SOP because management pushes quantity at the cost of quality.