My wife works in a restaurant, and the power-tripping manager has instituted a new policy where all shift changes must be approved by management. I think that is reasonable enough, but they’re also asking the originally-scheduled employee why they are switching shifts, then approving or denying based on the answer.
For example, her coworker (Tom) wanted Monday afternoon off, and Harry agreed to cover the shift. The manager asked Tom why he wanted Harry to work for him, and Tom said, “I have a softball game.” Manager denied the shift change because it was “unnecessary”.
Is this legal? I feel like if you’re able to find someone to cover your shift, you don’t owe management any explanation why you need the time off. How should my wife approach this situation? Colorado, USA BTW.
Well Colorado is an at will state so I would think it would be legal. Shitty but still legal.
“show me in my employment contract where it says I have to disclose that”
If this is in the US employment contracts are virtually nonexistent.
If a policy doesn’t discriminate against a protected class, it’s pretty much legal. Your recourse is to find another job.
I am pretty sure at any firm bigger than a mom & pop, there will be some sort of written agreement that the employee signs that establishes their intent to work for the employer. That’s an employment contract even if it’s not labeled as such. For example, they can sue if they aren’t paid their agreed compensation. Because there’s a contract for them to receive that compensation.
This is not correct. Wage theft is protected by law, not contract.
An offer letter is specifically not an employment contract - that distinction is usually spelled out in the law and also in virtually every offer letter.
We need legal advice communities
With the country built into the community name. Less confusion and wasted energy that way.
In the US, the state matters as well.
Not really, it’s a private company unless you sign a contract they can indeed make their own policies.
Within the laws of the location of the employer. That’s why state and sometimes even local laws matter.
Sounds like you need to source some tips from
In Ontario that’s perfectly legal. It’s also legal for you to decline to answer that question.I worked in kitchens for about 15 years and came across that problem at about 1/3 of the places I worked. Not super uncommon, the industry is filled with flakes.
Keep in mind in most jurisdictions Restaurants get special labour rules.
“special labour rules”
Seems every industry has their own… I work in IT and we get shafted as well
It’s like a “special military operations”, in the workplace!
Not illegal but dumb if it’s a power trip. If the shift is covered, then the business doesn’t suffer, but there may be other things at play. For example, the day and time of the shift. If it’s during a super busy day sad you may need extra coverage.
Now, there may be other things going on, like employees constantly changing shifts at will. When I owned a restaurant, I spent an awful amount of hours figuring out shifts that were equitable. As a manager if I want to have some certainty, the constant changes by employees whom only informed me they had negotiated behind the scenes, would feel disrespectful of my time and of the time of others.
This probably has nothing to do with your wife, but everything to do with that other dude. If I had known that he had a softball game coming up, or is in a league on Saturdays, I’d have been happy to work with him to figure out a shift change. Shit like that happens. But if this guy keeps bothering other employees to get them to cover for him constantly, that would also be disrespectful of their time. Even if they agree to do it.
In other words: If that guy thinks that his softball game is more valuable than your wife’s time with you or your family, then he should look for a job that suits his lifestyle.
If your wife, on the other hand, would come t me and tell me she needed the hours, I could work with her on that.
In the long run, I agree. A personal softball game by itself, is not reason enough to miss your shift. Just like shit happens, work also happens.
And just a no without an explanation is also not valid. A good manager lets people understand their decisions.
Interesting, I have had a nearly opposite experience in the past.
At one retail job I had, if you needed a shift off, you had to find someone else to agree to cover your shift. That was basically the whole process of getting out of a scheduled shift. Take a shift off, fine, but it was the responsibility of the worker who needed a shift covered to get that shift covered.
Meh, not going to argue but everything you are saying in your post…… it’s just wrong…. Incorrect.
At a restaurant there’s pretty much zero reason leave shouldn’t be approved with or without notice.
Why do you have sick time or vacation time if people can’t use it.
It’s none of you business why anyone needs to use their leave time, I get that that is difficult for you to understand…. But it’s none of your fucking business why anyone is using their leave time. Ever……
It is legal, but this is going to kill the restaurant.
I don’t live in the US, so I cannot comment on the legality of this. However, I will advise an informal policy of malicious compliance. If the manager asks why someone needs to take a day off, that someone should reply with incredibly graphic medical issues, whether real or fake. Think ‘I’m shitting blood and I need to see a doctor,’ or something like that. Keep it up for a few months and see how management responds.
My intestines backed up and every so often I need to cough up a loogi of chunky diarrhea
I think I would simply comply, maliciously.
What’s my reason? I’m going on a journey in alignment with my religion. Try telling me I can’t follow my religious beliefs on the record.
I work retail and have tuesdays off for my men’s group, which takes 7 hours out of my day once travel is taken into account.
A coworker advised me that if management ever asks about why I need tuesdays off, I should just say “It’s religious”.
If we look at it from the management side, a person covering your shift means he/she will go overtime which means more cost for the restaurant. I don’t know how big or popular this place is but if one doesn’t like the way things are going, she should file a complaint with HR or maybe look for another job.
Overtime in the hospitality trade?
Where?
Let me guess, you live in the U.S.
My suggestion, move away from that cesspool and towards more developed parts of the globe.
Because a server definitely has the resources to pick up and move internationally on a whim. 🙄
Well that went over your head.
I think getting actionable advice was the point of the thread.
Editorials are often seen as disrespectful and dont get the engagement you’d hope (this isn’t a news community).
A lot of incorrect answers here as to the legality - this is not a blanket 100% definitely legal situation. In the US, the boss can certainly ask why. But, if he denies leave for something that is discriminatory then that is an adverse employment action under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act if they employ at least 15 employees.
For instance, if he doesn’t allow leave to someone to observe a religious holiday, but allows others to go on leave under similar circumstances, that could be illegal.
A lot of things could be discriminatory. Its stupid of him to ask for specifics beyond medical vs personal.
My wife is of the opinion that a lot of these policies are being designed to make her work environment miserable. One of the main perks of that job is that two of her close friends also work there. The chef recently instituted a policy that the three of them are not to be scheduled on any shifts together because they “talk to each other too much”.
This shift switch approval policy is new. Before, any shift swich had to be logged in a book, with both employee’s initials. Now, the manager also needs to approve the shift change, and she’s wanting to know why the change is requested, before she decides if she thinks it’s important enough to allow.
It’s a person with .0001 oz of power, trying to get the most out of it.
You shouldn’t even “find someone to cover your shift”. That’s the manager’s job. If the manager is not the owner then a call to corporate is necessary. If they’re the owner then fuck this place.
If you were scheduled to work it is a reasonable thing to do though.
Nope, that’s why there is management. They take care of scheduling. Employees don’t need to do management’s job for them. I always call off at my job, never heard my manager tell me to find someone to cover my shift, they take care of it. This is a culture that restaurants made us think is ok, and it is not
One way you might resolve this is to get everybody talking about it without the boss there. I bet nobody likes the policy. Maybe everyone would agree to not give a reason, or to give the same reason that is an obvious lie?
Maybe if all the employees presented a united front. Like a sort of joint group of just the employees. Together in a union of sorts.
Maybe individually they do not have a lot of power, but together could be strong?
This idea probably wont stick in the states. The workers there arent very united.
Individually they are weak like a single twig, but bundled together they form a mighty removed.
Edit:
Aww, the text filter messed up the joke
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Everyone should always say ‘its because I’m on my period.’ Men and post menopausal women too. It could be great, if the first few times the younger women use the line it works. Then whenever someone who doesn’t have menses uses it, everyone unites together and puts a little bit of their labor to helping a coworker. It’d be nice if there was a name for something like that.
It’d be nice if there was a name for something like that.
Synced menstrual cycle?
What bullshit. I’d make something up every time. Whether their request is legal or not, my personal life isn’t my employer’s business, and certainly doesn’t revolve around their “approval”.
What bullshit. I’d make something up every time.
Whether their request is legal or not, my personal life isn’t my employer’s business, and certainly doesn’t revolve around their “approval”.
