Against the law??

[CellPhoneSlave]

I'm just wondering if this is a law or not....

I work 3:30 pm til 12: am. Our call center closes at 12.

Tonight around 11 everyone got a pop up on the computer saying that if we still had calls in queue at 12, everyone had to stay until there were gone..

Is it against the law to make someone stay after their scheduled time off?

I understand if they were volunteering to stay, but forcing us??

Does anyone know?

[DarthRetard]

You couldn't have left? I mean, usually it's a rule of thumb for us to try and stay and help what we can, and we get paid overtime for it.....

If you're not getting reimbursed for your time in any way, it's then at least unethical and eligible for a report to the BBB.

[CellPhoneSlave]

No.. they said that if we clocked out before the queue was gone, we would face write ups or get sacked..

This was after a 7 day work week and an very tired cell phone slave

Normally I wouldn't mind, but after the day I had i just wanted to leave

[DarthRetard]

That doesn't seem ethical to me, CellPhone. It really doesn't. Work with no reimbursement and forced labor = guess what? SLAVERY!

Slavery? Illegal.

Do the logic train with me.....lol.

I would at least speak up and request that a better policy be put in place or at least have that one explained fully. Or, like I said before, contact the BBB and at least see if it's legal. They'd know.

[CellPhoneSlave]

well, we would get overtime pay, if it brought us over your 40 hour mark.. But they still can not force you to do overtime...

I think i will talk to someone about it tomorrow.. Thank you

[DarthRetard]

No problem. I was just putting in what I could, I'm no legal expert, but I know forced overtime is unethical at the least. goodnight.

[TNT]

I've had a lot of jobs where we had forced overtime. A line in my job description reads, "Work overtime as needed."

If I get a call that runs past my quitting time, I have to stay until it's finished. I'm usually a little over every day, and the record is the calls that took two hours to finish.

[CellPhoneSlave]

Our policy doesn't say a thing about taking another call after 12... There are plenty of times I leave late because i am still on a call.. Lol, I can imagine it...


Me"Okay so now lets go ahead and... wait wait.... its 12... Sorry, I cant continue on this call, I'm off work

Sc: "..........................."



The policy also states that overtime is also on a volunteer basis..........

[BookstoreEscapee]

As long as they're paying you overtime I doubt it's illegal. Fair? Well, that's a different question. If you weren't made aware from the start of the possibility that your job may involve overtime, that doesn't seem fair to suddenly pop up on your screen an hour before the end of your shift and say that you're expected to stay late . Could you maybe talk to your supervisor and suggest that they might get a better response from the staff if they at least gave a little more notice? At least then no one is blindsided and you are prepared for the possibility.

-ams-

[nick1091]

While what they're doing isn't illegal, it is a breach of your employment agreement if it stipulates any overtime is voluntary.

I'd go to your supervisor and point this out. If they say there was a policy change, ask to see it in writing. And make sure to document any other instances going forward where you're threatened with disciplinary actions for not taking overtime.

[Gurndigarn]

In most cases, there's no employement stipulation that overtime is only voluntary-- and, if you're doing at-will employement, they can stipulate that you work to meet their needs.

On the plus side, if they fire you for not working extra, you probably have a reasonable case at the unemployment office.

But, for what it's worth: if they're running you into overtime, some bean-counter is probably going to notice down the road and shut it down.