Working hours
sssteel
21 Posts
I work for a steel company in Indiana and every month during our close we struggle to get all of the work completed. My GM resently asked if "we could make it mandatory for a specific group of employees to start work at 7" but only during the end of the month. He asked me this and my first response was "I don't see why that would be a problem" but I told him I would give him a final answer later. After thinking about this issue I feel we shouldn't make it manditory and here are my reasons why:
1) Our Employee hand book clearly states that office working hours are from 8am - 5pm.
2) We would not require every employee to come in at 7 so we could face discrimination charges.
If anyone can give me their insight on this I would be very grateful! Thanks Everyone.
1) Our Employee hand book clearly states that office working hours are from 8am - 5pm.
2) We would not require every employee to come in at 7 so we could face discrimination charges.
If anyone can give me their insight on this I would be very grateful! Thanks Everyone.
Comments
Our policy on work schedules reads, "Work schedules for employees vary throughout our organization. It is each supervisor’s responsibility to effectively manage the hours worked within their department, and to advise employees of their individual work schedules. Staffing needs and operational demands may necessitate variation in starting and ending times, as well as variation in the total hours that may be scheduled each day, and each week. Non-exempt employees are never guaranteed a set number of hours of work."
We also have an overtime policy, which you may want to consider also. "There may be times when it will be necessary for you to work overtime. Your supervisor will notify you as early as possible regarding our scheduling needs. All overtime must be approved by your supervisor.
Overtime compensation is paid to all non-exempt employees in accordance with federal and state laws at the rate of one and ½ times straight-time rate for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek.
As required by law, overtime pay is based on actual hours worked. Time off on holidays, sick leave, vacation leave, any leave of absence, etc., will not be considered hours worked for the purpose of calculating overtime.
Failure to work scheduled overtime or overtime worked without prior authorization from the supervisor may result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment."
As for the handbook, consider changing your policy regardless of what you do about mandatory OT this time around. You should build in more flexibility for your company. Anything as restrictive as what you have for working hours will certainly be an issue eventually. Think beyond the current request for mandatory OT and consider flex working hours by request or based on business need. In a totally unrelated what-if scenario, if you decided that flexing a worker's hours as an ADA accomodation, doing so might be reasonable except your policy is so restrictive. Reword and keep some flexibility in the company's decision about working hours tied somehow to what might benefit your company regardless of the situation.
best wishes.