Can employers do this?

[WingingIt]

Some of that is legal. Some is not. Some may be or may not be depending on details (are they being paid overtime?). Time to put in a call to the department of labor and have them come investigate the practices. They can, and WILL, place heavy fines if warranted, they will review hours worked versusu pay received and award mandatory backpay if it's owed. They will also inform the owners/managers what they can and cannot do about some of those situations.

 

[EweSheep]

Hubby does get paid time and half for any overtime and holidays (no twice or triple pay on holidays) and in fact, now finding out, this company has a very HIGH turnover rate. They would hire temps (like hubby did), get thru the 180 day probationary period before they buy them out from the temp services. He did pretty well and they were impressed with his commitment to work, they hired him on full time employee and bought him out from temp services.

many of the employees there wanted a second shift so they can get the orders caught up but it gets harder and harder when they fire people, and the employees themselves HAVE to train those newcomers how to do it. Just before he left at the end of his shift for the day, they pulled new 25 people from one station to another station which they have NO idea how to do the job! Good grief!

I do not know the exact numbers of employees there but the ones that came out at break, nearly around 60 employees.

PM me if you want to know the company's name. They have several locations elsewhere in the state of Illinois.

Like you Slackwater, hubby does not want to be union but sometimes union might work in this agenda but it is hard pressed to do so if the company is being very demanding toward the employees. I do enjoy being around with his co workers and they are all friendly but their attitude, morals and commitment to the company were flagging.

As the company was saying "The company comes FIRST then your family. This is MUCH MORE important than your family". Now that got alot of the men employees pants waddled up big time including hubby which all of them said, my family comes FIRST, then the company!

 

[EweSheep]

Quote:
As far as I know, when hubby first started working there, one employee was driving a fork lift, knocked hubby off of his feet onto his butt, and his female co worker was pinned against the pallet and wall, with her wrist, she screamed....and the fork lifter just laughed at her. She had to WAIT for the higher up to take her to the ER, thankfully not broken but a bad sprain and bruise, dismissed for the rest of the day and tod her to come back to work the next day. Hubby had to do extra work when she could not lift or move her wrist to assemble the platforms. The next day, the forklifter was terminated....tested positive for cocaine.

Hubby, as he is an certified EMT, thought that fork lift driver was erratic and did mentioned it to the supervisor but the the results came up dead end or being ignored until the accident did happen that day.

Another one was terminated for domestic abuse and violence against his girlfriend, missing work and hubby think he has gone loco with PST (he was an ex Gulf War veteran) when he was out shouting orders like a drill sargent. Hubby and him met their match one day and hubby told him that he is NOT the leader, nor should he be given orders either. Mentally unstable if you ask me.

Hubby last night decided to see if he could get on Caterpillar, since he does LIKE the work he was doing but the higher ups sucks. If they can fire all the higher ups, all for the better! At least a job that he enjoys.......sigh!

 

[welsummerchicks]

Union union union.

Sadly, this is how some companies are making 'profit' in these lean times.

There is a lot of pressure these days at most jobs. It's a little like that movie,

I think it has already been shown in research that when a shift gets stretched out like that, accidents and errors go up very predictably.

So the system is a little like throwing kittens in water and then punishing them for being wet.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Sounds like the job I just quit, except for working Sundays, though they made up for it the other 6 days

I'd put in apps elsewhere and try to find something else as soon as possible. With the long hours, it will be hard to fill out many apps, but one a day with some hope is better than being stuck. Sorry he is having a rough time.

 

[redhen]

Trust me.. I'm not all for unions either...
But sometimes its badly needed. Like in this case...

 

[PineappleMama]

I donno about the Sunday thing... I've seen places where some folks ended up with the shift that wraps around the traditional weekend and they had T/W off instead... but it was still just 40 hours scheduled...

But ordering folks to work more hours than is SAFE... leads to exhaustion and thus mistakes... for a file clerk that'd be annoying, but for those working with machinery it can be fatal. Even truckers, who are their own boss, are still required to keep hours that keep them, and everyone else on the road, safe.... just from the rested = awake standpoint.

This might be an OSHA thing.... not sure, but maybe? Have they been called in? Anytime before? Might be worth a gander.
http://www.osha.gov/

I don't think anyone can force someone to work... if that was the case there'd be a lot less welfare fraud right? But I'm pretty sure they can't force unsafe conditions on employees. Offer OT, but can't force it. I think...?

 

[HarlansHollowFarms]

Quote:
An employer can do what they want, in all but a few states are there laws that protect the employee. I have researched this extensively, and even in Montana, where there is a law protecting employees, it is very hard to go up against the employer.

OSHA does not controll hours, the only reason truck drivers have to abide by hours worked, is because of special federal regulations. Very few workers are protected under these provisions.

Your only recourse in your situation, is to call the Labour Relations Board about the comments on being fired for attempting to form a union. Other then that, there is nothing you can do except look for different employment.

 

[PineappleMama]

Ah gotcha. I didn't know what OSHA did and didn't cover at all.

Seems like if employees were exhausted that they'd be a risk though, just like a trucker. A 15 hour work day, gives you max 9 hours to eat, sleep, and travel... seems like that would make it impossible to guarantee a well rested employee. And it's proven that fatigue causes impaired reactions. Seems logical to me to have something on the books about that.

Course also seems logical not to eat fried food because ya know it's fatty and yet those fries still call my name... so who am I to talk?

 

[HarlansHollowFarms]

Quote:
Yes, it is very true and a proven fact that fatigue causes imparted reactions, however, very little has been done to encourage employers to respect this.

That is one of many reasons years ago, that unions were formed. Grant many are corrupt, just like many other businesses, but back in the day there were formed to protect the rights of the common worker. It is truely unfortunate that there is nothing left that has the power to protect us any longer.