Asklemmy

43940 readers

563 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
!lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

386

Wife's boss is on a power trip. Is this legal? (lemmy.studio)

submitted 1 year ago by neocamel@lemmy.studio to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

149 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] kava@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Of course it's legal. Why wouldn't it be?

She should approach it by either following the stupid rules or finding a new job

I second others advice by saying as little as possible. "Family issues" "personal obligations" "health problem"

No use being honest with a boss that isn't understanding

[–] jocanib@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Of course it’s legal. Why wouldn’t it be?

I'm assuming you're USian?

The question almost anywhere else in the wealthy world is why would it be legal? The manager does not need to know therefore the manager has no right to ask.

[–] sphericth0r@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

No that's the case in the US too. I never ask why my employee wants time off, I don't need to know any more about their personal lives, they tell me too much already...

[–] kava@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes I'm in the US and I gave US-centric advice because OP is in US.

We all know US has shit labor laws. Although to be fair, I think in this scenario it would work the same way in ny home country of Brazil. When you want to switch you're essentially saying "I'm not showing up to my shift"

I'm not sure in what country that isn't insubordination and isn't subject to legal penalties by the employer.

[–] jocanib@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

When you want to switch you’re essentially saying “I’m not showing up to my shift”

Do you understand what a "switch" is?

[–] kava@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm thinking you don't. "I'm not showing up to my shift but I have someone to cover for me" is still "I'm not showing up to my shift"

[–] jocanib@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

No it isn't. But you know that.