Employees working by themselves

keithlf · July 2002

Is there a law not allowing an hourly employee work without a supervisor present?

Theresa Gegen TX · July 2002

No, except in very limited circumstances. For example, some types of electrical codes (city codes) require that a certified electrician be on site to supervise the non-certified ones. (there are probably some others for specific types of jobs).

But, I generally think that letting hourly employees work without any supervision is a bad idea. Let's face, when the cat's away, the mice will play. The employer will be stuck relying on the hourly to be honest about the hours put in and to not goof off. Also, if any type of accident occurs, the fact that there was no supervision could effect the liability of the employer.

Good Luck!

Gillian · July 2002

Is there an inherent difference between the honesty of an hourly employee as compared to a salaried one? We are reading a lot about salaried mice who have been doing lots of dishonest. There are hourly employees who can be trusted to work without supervision.

Theresa Gegen TX · July 2002

The difference in my book is that if the salaried employee goes into do work on a weekend or evening and doesn't get anything done because he or she decides to goof off, who cares? The salaried employee will get the same pay regardless. And the salaried employee will still have to get the work done. If an hourly employee does that, he or she is paid for doing nothing.

And generally most employers expect their salaried employees to be more responsible -- they are the supervisors and managers.

Good Luck!

Carol CA · July 2002

For safety reasons we would never have someone work alone. There should always be someone else in the building.

Gillian · July 2002

Agreed! Where there are significant safety issues when one works alone, there should always be two, and if someone wants a rule that there should always be two people in a building, that is fine too. The original post, though, was about always having a supervisor when a single non-exempt employee is working. In my opinion, requiring a supervisor to always be there when a non-exempt employee is working not only presents all sorts of scheduling problems but shows a considerable amount of distrust in the honesty of non-exempt employees. In my place, non-exempt workers work by themselves all the time. We trust them to do what they are supposed to be doing - work - but if someone decides to take advantage of that freedom, we will deal with that individual.

ritaanz · July 2002

We found that if a supervisor is required to come in and work with their employee/employees, the OT went away dramatically. Production requirements, somehow, were met or exceeded. x:o

Don D · July 2002

Keith: NO

Employees working by themselves

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