Social Event
Rockie
2,136 Posts
This is one for the books! I know that if you have mandatory meetings for employees, they have to be paid for attendance - no questions asked.
Our practice recently had a party for referring physicians and we had volunteers to help work the party - help set up - put out food, etc., make sure nothing ran out, etc. Some, but not all of the volunteers were from our Employee Involvement Committee who helps put on social events for the employees.
Anyway...some of the committee members think they should be paid because they worked "hard" that day. I worked 16 hours that day myself, but I never even thought about being "paid" for this. No one was told they had to work the party, if someone had something else they had to do that evening, they were not told they had to be in attendance. In fact, some committee members even came to the party, enjoyed themselves and did not lift one finger to help.
I really don't know what to think about the mindset and mentality of some of the people in the workforce today. It seems like it's all about "what's in it for me".
I don't know if any of you have had similar experiences, but it sure does get frustrating trying to enhance employee morale,not to mention costly (overtime for greedy employees).
Anyway, I'm just about ready to totally disband the Employee Involvement Committee and run the social events by a different committee for each event instead of relying
Our practice recently had a party for referring physicians and we had volunteers to help work the party - help set up - put out food, etc., make sure nothing ran out, etc. Some, but not all of the volunteers were from our Employee Involvement Committee who helps put on social events for the employees.
Anyway...some of the committee members think they should be paid because they worked "hard" that day. I worked 16 hours that day myself, but I never even thought about being "paid" for this. No one was told they had to work the party, if someone had something else they had to do that evening, they were not told they had to be in attendance. In fact, some committee members even came to the party, enjoyed themselves and did not lift one finger to help.
I really don't know what to think about the mindset and mentality of some of the people in the workforce today. It seems like it's all about "what's in it for me".
I don't know if any of you have had similar experiences, but it sure does get frustrating trying to enhance employee morale,not to mention costly (overtime for greedy employees).
Anyway, I'm just about ready to totally disband the Employee Involvement Committee and run the social events by a different committee for each event instead of relying
Comments
Look at the situation as an investment, and the return on your investment is good relations all around. Pretty sappy -- huh?
The courts have consistantly held that compensable time under the FSLA includes all time spent performing job related activities which (a) benefit the employer (at least in part), (b) which the employer "knows or has reason to believe" are being performed by an employee, and (c) which the employer does not prohibit the employee from performing. These can include activities performed during "off the clock" time, at the job or elsewhere, whether "voluntary" or not. Courts have awarded FSLA damages for "off the clock" time spent by employees maintaining equipment, staying late after normal shifts without "putting in" for overtime, doing job related paperwork "at home", making and responding to job related telephone calls, working through meal periods, and many other activities.
I would contrast this with a social event that is not directly for the benefit of the employer (like, for example, a birthday party or baby shower for an employee which occurs on company premises). If it falls more into this category, then the employer probably does not need to pay the employees.