this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2023
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Wife's boss is on a power trip. Is this legal? (midwest.social)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.studio/post/283413

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.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The policy isn't specifically illegal as far as I know.

It can potentially be illegal due to the subjective nature of approving and denying request. For example if someone gets approval for a religious event, but you get denied for a secular event. Any favoritism towards a protected class makes this policy illegal. Proving it in court is difficult unless you have a smoking gun.

If it were me my request would always be "for a religious event." No I'm not giving more details. I need time off for a religious event. Deny or approved?

But you're not me, so it may be the hill to sacrifice your income stability on.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

That’s a great point. It’s always for a religious event. Also depending on the religion you choose you can either have Saturdays or Sundays off.

Im not sure if it is a legally recognized religion or not, but (the church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster)[https://www.spaghettimonster.org], let’s you choose which day you want as the day of worship.

Autocorrect automatically capitalized the words, so I’m leaning towards it being real.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Illegal? Probably not. Asshole move? Most definitely. I think the reason that they're cracking down on this is to avoid potential overtime payments but it doesn't make it right or fair. You don't owe an explanation to anyone if you've been responsible enough to cover your shift. That much said, the only way to be sure is if you file a complaint with Colorado's Department of Labor and have one of their attorneys or Labor Law Enforcement Officers go over your claim. It could very well be considered an unacceptable breach of privacy and this restaurant could face punitive fines for behaving like this but I am neither a lawyer nor a resident of Colorado.

[–] AThing4String 2 points 1 year ago

I think the reason that they're cracking down on this is to avoid potential overtime payments

... But what on earth does that have to do with what the person NOT working does with their day? If all they care about is overtime, then the question would be "will either person switching shifts get overtime or violate labor laws like minimum shift separations due to the switch?"

The fact that they explicitly base decisions not on the shift taker - who is more likely to receive overtime pay - but the shift giver and what they are doing OUTSIDE of work says the decision has as little to do with work as whatever you'd miss a shift for.

Literally every shift place I've worked has had pretty much the same rules - if you find someone to cover without making it everyone else's problem and there's no overtime or labor violations, who gives a f***? Crazy enough, they determined that by 1. Looking at the work schedule and 2. Checking for potential overtime work, and not by asking for a copy of my non-work-related itinerary.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Never ever ever ever ever give your bosses more information than they need. "I have a personal appointment that cannot be rescheduled" "I'm not comfortable discussing that"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Seriously...

"Why do you need to swap?"

"Because I can't work the shift"

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I don’t think it’s illegal but several things are true

  1. It’s delusional to think it’s ok to treat grown-ass adults like children in this way
  2. That type of delusion is 100% corporate culture in retail and food service management. I was a retail manager and it’s scary how skillfully they normalize abhorrent behavior because we need team players and other such gaslighting.
  3. Even given item 2, it is clearly a very bad idea for a manager to subjectively approve or deny shift switches based on the reason for them. Soooooo many HR pitfalls that could lead to accusations, lawsuits, fines, etc.

Is it illegal to ask why you need to switch? Probably not, though it’s a bad idea (for them). Can they legally require you to tell them? I don’t think so. Can they fire you if you don’t follow the policy? Depends on the state laws, employee handbook, and lots of details.

I’m not a lawyer and I’m not your friend but these people are clowns…they are trying to run their store the (wrong) way they’ve been taught. The policy is silly and wrong. You don’t have to tell them shit. Tell them it’s none of their business or tell them you are sacrificing a baby on an altar made of cat hair, or you turn into a werewolf on Thursdays. Be nice to the clowns (they may be sad inside) but don’t respect them if they behave like idiots.*

*you may get fired