Mandatory Overtime and Sabbath
gingerflwrs
31 Posts
Hi Everyone...I'm hoping I can get some help on this.
I work for a private manufacturing company in CT. Every department has been working mandatory overtime for several months without any problem except the stock room employees. The manager has been a little too nice in requesting the ee's to work OT during the week and a few hours on Saturdays, (ee's say they will be here and don't show up,etc.) So now they have been told they will be disciplined if they do not come in when required as the extra hours are desperately needed due to a substantial increase in business and they cannot keep up with the demand during a 40 hour work week. The manager has gone as far as to post a sign-up sheet allowing the ee's to voluntere for Saturdays that would be better for their schedules, however, all ee' are required to work at least 2 per month and 1 hour per day during the week.
One employee that recently returned from a 7 month wc absence and has been assigned to the Stock Room has stated that Saturday is her Sabbath and she absolutely cannot work. However, she is more than willing to work as many hours as needed during the week to make up the time. PERFECT! The problem started when she announced this in front of the entire department.
The real PROBLEM employee, has absolutely refused to work any OT either during the week or on Saturday and denies he was told he would have to during the interview (lie - both the manager and I remember telling him this and I tell all candidates that overtime will be required). After telling us we can't make him work OT, I informed him that we can and will require OT from him and if he does not abide by this he will be disciplined up to and including termination. His response was, you can't make me work OT and if you do I will claim it is my Sabbath!
My question after all this rambling is what are our responsibilities if he claims it is his Sabbath after we already know it is not and he is using that only to avoid OT. I know we can require he make up the time during the week, but I would just like some opinions and feedback on this situation. Has anyone been involved with something like this and if so, what was the outcome? I have spent two days researching the matter and have come to a dead end!
Also, does anyone have a mandatory OT policy they can share with me. I will be rewriting the Employee Handbook after the first of the year and I want to ensure this is carefully stated.
Sorry for the "book" but I will appreciate any help I can get and I hope everyone has a Happy New Year.
Gingerflwrs
P.S. Sometimes HR can be such a hassle. xx(
I work for a private manufacturing company in CT. Every department has been working mandatory overtime for several months without any problem except the stock room employees. The manager has been a little too nice in requesting the ee's to work OT during the week and a few hours on Saturdays, (ee's say they will be here and don't show up,etc.) So now they have been told they will be disciplined if they do not come in when required as the extra hours are desperately needed due to a substantial increase in business and they cannot keep up with the demand during a 40 hour work week. The manager has gone as far as to post a sign-up sheet allowing the ee's to voluntere for Saturdays that would be better for their schedules, however, all ee' are required to work at least 2 per month and 1 hour per day during the week.
One employee that recently returned from a 7 month wc absence and has been assigned to the Stock Room has stated that Saturday is her Sabbath and she absolutely cannot work. However, she is more than willing to work as many hours as needed during the week to make up the time. PERFECT! The problem started when she announced this in front of the entire department.
The real PROBLEM employee, has absolutely refused to work any OT either during the week or on Saturday and denies he was told he would have to during the interview (lie - both the manager and I remember telling him this and I tell all candidates that overtime will be required). After telling us we can't make him work OT, I informed him that we can and will require OT from him and if he does not abide by this he will be disciplined up to and including termination. His response was, you can't make me work OT and if you do I will claim it is my Sabbath!
My question after all this rambling is what are our responsibilities if he claims it is his Sabbath after we already know it is not and he is using that only to avoid OT. I know we can require he make up the time during the week, but I would just like some opinions and feedback on this situation. Has anyone been involved with something like this and if so, what was the outcome? I have spent two days researching the matter and have come to a dead end!
Also, does anyone have a mandatory OT policy they can share with me. I will be rewriting the Employee Handbook after the first of the year and I want to ensure this is carefully stated.
Sorry for the "book" but I will appreciate any help I can get and I hope everyone has a Happy New Year.
Gingerflwrs
P.S. Sometimes HR can be such a hassle. xx(
Comments
If an employee was told pre-hire what the job obligations are, and the employee affirmatively stated that he/she could meet those expectations without accommodation, that's a great start.
As far as him suddenly claiming that Saturday is his Sabbath - you can actually ask the employee to prove it. I believe there was an article on the hrhero website regarding this. For an employee to claim religious "protection" for holidays and sabbaths, you may require them to show that they have a history of observing these holidays/sabbaths and that by working they would be violating the laws of their faith. I wish I could find the article - if I do I'll send it your way.
Do some internet searches on proving up religions accomodation and I'm sure you'll find something on this issue.
Good luck - I'm interested to see the outcome of this!
Thanks so much for the info. I will definitely look up the article and search the web. I'll let you know how things turn out.
Have a great New Year.
Gingerflwrs
Good luck!
As far as the other days in the week, unless your state wage and hour laws address this, you can require overtime whether or not you mentioned it when hiring the employee. If the employee claims religious reasons for not being able to work OT any night, again, you will want a note from his minister/rabbi. You will want to be clear on what is REQUIRED by the faith and what is the preference of the employee, but not required.
Gingerflwrs