Sudden change of rules in Tn Tennessee

[countrygal77]

I have been working for this company for four yrs. We all started out at minimum wage and are still making minimum wage. We have no health insurance. No sick days or personal days. Our only benefit is five days paid vacation a yr. Some of us have never used our vacation because they deny us every yr. That I can deal with. What i cannot deal with is the lack of overtime. We have events at our place of employment. If we cannot do our regular work and handle these events in 7.5 hours,Ohwell. We are expected to stay anyway. Also in our handbook it states we are allowed to miss six days a yr(remember no sick days) before we have to bring in a dr note. Suddenly our boss came by the other day and said we absolutly cannot miss. For any reason other than a dr putting us off for health reasons. No funerals, nothing. As this company does not offer health insurance its kinda hard to go to the dr everytime we are sick. And Im sorry but when a loved one passes its kind of cruel to say we must come to work no matter what. As the jerk put it he doenst care if its a spouse,better put them on ice til the weekend. How can this be legal?

[Betty3]

It sounds like you are hourly non exempt employees making min. wage. Is that correct?

Your employer can do most of what you posted because there is no law against it. When you say lack of overtime - do you mean overtime pay?

Thanks.

[cbg]

It is legal because there is no law that says it is illegal. No law in any state requires that they provide paid leave of any kind (or, for that matter, unpaid leave) for any reason. The only exception would be if FMLA or a state equivalent applied.

There is also no law prohibiting the boss from changing the rules.

I agree that it's very harsh and cold. I wouldn't want to work for an employer like that either. But it's not a legal violation.

On the overtime issue, however, it's unclear what is happening. If they are refusing to allow you to work overtime, that's legal. But if they are requiring that you work overtime and then not paying for it, that's illegal. Which is it?

[Beth3]

If we cannot do our regular work and handle these events in 7.5 hours,Ohwell. We are expected to stay anyway.

I take it you're being required to work overtime and not being paid for it. If that's the case, you and your co-workers should all file claims with your State's Department of Labor/wage and hour division.

As to the rest, nothing illegal is occuring even if you are working for Simon Legree. I can only suggest you start looking for a job elsewhere.

[countrygal77]

To the questions about my previous post- we maintain and clean buildings. We have our regular schedule for every day but at numerous times thru the year we have many events. Some may not even end til our shift is over and we have to stay and do not get paid for it. Boss says we are donating our time to a worthy cause, our jobs. Also when i was talking about not allowed time off for funerals,etc;i did not mean paid time off i meant time off period. We dont get paid for holidays or anything so i was not expecting paid time off. Other than the boss and crazy new rules i love my job and have been working at the same building for 13 yrs(with different contracted companies).I am looking for a new job.

[Betty3]

If you're working OT & not getting paid for it, file a claim with your state's DOL as noted by Beth.

Your employer doesn't have to allow you time off for funerals - paid or unpaid. Sorry. It may not seem fair but it is not illegal.