Law firm madness

[Kelso]

I know it's not retail or restaurant work per se, but here we are encouraged to view the attorneys we support as our "clients," which I guess is supposed to make us feel more empowered to help them but in the end just makes me want to fire all my clients.

So because I'm a floating assistant I was basically told this morning that no, I cannot have Christmas week off, and by the way, the attorney who's going to trial soon needs someone to transcribe whatever he wants, whenever he wants, so don't turn your phone off at night, BUT FUCK YOU NO CHRISTMAS FOR YOU.

I hate my life.

[TheSHAD0W]

Unless you're being paid for unlimited availability, I'd recommend telling them to fuck themselves. Put out your resume and look for somebody else.

[emax4]

What are the chances that they would actually call on Christmas too? Just because they call doesn't mean you should have to answer it, and when you do, you're in control of how long the call lasts.

[RayvenQ]

so don't turn your phone off at night

Oh, woulda lookit that, my phone battery appears to have diedd just after I went to sleep. Tsk, thats the problem with phones these days, the batteries dont last long.

[PepperElf]

Unless you're being paid for unlimited availability, I'd recommend telling them to fuck themselves. Put out your resume and look for somebody else.

that depends if they use a time clock or if it's purely salaried.

cos the trade off with that is... salaried often pays more, but they can demand more hours without having to pay overtime since it's considered to be compensated in the pay already.


although it never hurts to hunt anyway.

[Jester]

I don't quite have a full set of Gibbsian rules in my life, but there are a few I do have.

One being that if you hate something, change it. If you hate your life, change what you hate about it. If that happens to be your job, well, change your job.

I know, easier said than done. I do NOT suggest quitting your job without first having a new one lined up, as that is simply foolhardy. However, if your job is making you miserable, only you can change that, and hunting for a new job is the best way to do so.

An obvious corollary to said rule is that if you hate something and can't change it (for whatever reason), find a way to make it tolerable until you can change it.

And don't forget Rule #9: never go anywhere without a knife. (Except through airport security, of course.)

[Solacelawlz]

Madness....?? This.. Is.. Spaaaaaaaarta!!!! sorry couldn't resist -_- haha but yea that is evil madness!! sounds real real lame... i feel your pain though. when i was a network admin was the exact same thing, you might be called in 24/7 no matter the day cause yea... network has to be up!! but hopefully you catch a break and like others here say, if they keep calling you in constantly and you don't like it, might wanna look else where if possible.

[Dilorenzo]

I do NOT suggest quitting your job without first having a new one lined up, as that is simply foolhardy.

I second this - never do this, even if the worldwide economy hasn't taken a massive dump.

I do, in fact, speak from experience. Stupid, stupid experience.

[Geek King]

that depends if they use a time clock or if it's purely salaried.

cos the trade off with that is... salaried often pays more, but they can demand more hours without having to pay overtime since it's considered to be compensated in the pay already.


although it never hurts to hunt anyway.

And still look up your rights, even as salaried. In many places, they still must pay you overtime if it is not in your contract (sometimes even if it is!), and many places have rules on how long a person can be worked without a minimum rest period.

[Pixilated]

that depends if they use a time clock or if it's purely salaried.

cos the trade off with that is... salaried often pays more, but they can demand more hours without having to pay overtime since it's considered to be compensated in the pay already.


although it never hurts to hunt anyway.

Yep, with salaried positions you do end up with a lot more "flexibility" in your work hours ... I remember from my years in the journalism biz. Mondays were 11- to 12-hour days, while Tuesdays were 8- to 9-hour days. And that didn't include the occasional evening meeting and the weekend rotation. I stuck it out because I loved the work, but if you'd broken down our hours by our salary, heaven knows what pathetic per-hour sum we'd have been making.

But having said that, we were never treated as if they owned us. Definitely start looking for another job. You don't need this nonsense.

And still look up your rights, even as salaried. In many places, they still must pay you overtime if it is not in your contract (sometimes even if it is!), and many places have rules on how long a person can be worked without a minimum rest period.

Assuming the person has a contract ... IIRC, we didn't, at the newspaper. Or if we did, it included those neat little phrases like "other work as needed" which can be used to cover a multitude of sins.

[Seshat]

Never, EVER, have additional work - including 'on call' time - without some sort of suitable compensation. And 'suitable' means 'suitable to you'; not just to the company.

Work is a trade. You're trading your time and skills to the employer in exchange for money and/or other benefits. If the deal isn't fair to both parties, it's time to change it.

[scruff]

Speaking as someone who's usually salaried, "other work as needed" involves other tasks. Not significant extra hours.

Unless you have a contract that says you are expected to work extra hours for free, if needed, don't do it.
(My last contract did, and my old boss (briefly) moved to a worse job where her contract stated if the bosses said so, she had to cancel booked holidays (we did warn her about that place, she took the job anyway, then moved on a year later..)

Either use the insane requested on-call hours (actual hours worked is irrelevant, they are asking you to be avalaible for nuts hours, which is effectively working hours, as you need to be awake/sober/by a computer and phone for the duration of those hours) to negociate extra holidays and triple pay, or go job hunting. Preferably both.

[wolfie]

that depends if they use a time clock or if it's purely salaried.

cos the trade off with that is... salaried often pays more, but they can demand more hours without having to pay overtime since it's considered to be compensated in the pay already.

Just because you're salaried doesn't make you exempt from overtime pay - it's only managerial (i.e. authority to hire and fire) and professional (the lawyers would be covered under this one, but not clerical staff) who are exempt. If you wind up with more than the statutory limit (usually 40 hours/week), they have to pay you overtime. "On-call", because you're restricted in what you can do during that time in case you get the call, should be paid (although not necessarily at your regular rate) for the time you're waiting, even if you don't get the call.

Unless you have a contract that says you are expected to work extra hours for free, if needed, don't do it.
(My last contract did, and my old boss (briefly) moved to a worse job where her contract stated if the bosses said so, she had to cancel booked holidays (we did warn her about that place, she took the job anyway, then moved on a year later..)

Contract can't override the law. If the law says, given the type of duties you're hired for (sounds like clerical, which is NOT exempt from overtime), you have to get overtime pay, and your contract says that because you're salaried, the extra hours are free, guess what? Either you get the overtime pay, or the law office is in BIG trouble with the labour board. Check with the labour board about your situation - both for overtime pay, and minimum required off-duty time between shifts (including "on-call" time).

[EricKei]

"Exempt" [from being paid overtime] status applies to some things other than just Managerial and Professional -- certain forms of "Technical" (read: programmers and webmasters, for example) are also included. HOWEVER: It is my understanding that an "Exempt" person must meet a whole slew of specific qualifications, including minimum money earned per year, as well as being in a position where the person has DIRECT control over another worker ("dotted line" bosses do not count, unless they have someone over whom they are a supervisor). If ANY of these criteria are not met, Exempt status does not apply.

I found this out back at AccountingFirm, when I was repeatedly denied Overtime pay in a non-salaried position the few times I worked over 40 hours -- I checked, and I met only one of the criteria (the "technical" bit). When I complained, they just started "creatively reassigning" my excess hours to later weeks. Yes, both of these things are blatantly illegal. I just didn't think to document it properly so I could PROVE it. Argh.

[mhkohne]

"Exempt" [from being paid overtime] status applies to some things other than just Managerial and Professional -- certain forms of "Technical" (read: programmers and webmasters, for example) are also included. HOWEVER: It is my understanding that an "Exempt" person must meet a whole slew of specific qualifications, including minimum money earned per year, as well as being in a position where the person has DIRECT control over another worker ("dotted line" bosses do not count, unless they have someone over whom they are a supervisor). If ANY of these criteria are not met, Exempt status does not apply.

I found this out back at AccountingFirm, when I was repeatedly denied Overtime pay in a non-salaried position the few times I worked over 40 hours -- I checked, and I met only one of the criteria (the "technical" bit). When I complained, they just started "creatively reassigning" my excess hours to later weeks. Yes, both of these things are blatantly illegal. I just didn't think to document it properly so I could PROVE it. Argh.

At least in the US, direct control over others is part of one of the categories of exempt (executive job duties). You can instead have 'professional' job duties and be exempt, without managing anyone.

There's an overview at http://www.flsa.com/coverage.html. Note that I'm not sure who actually owns that page, it's clearly not the government.