Employers requred to pay minimum 4hr day if no work?

[Headbust]

Anyway know the law on this..i know it probably changes state to state, but isnt there a law that if you show up to work and there is any work or you only work a couple hrs , it is mandortory for the employer to pay a minimum of 4hrs..if you were hired full time.

[Serath]

Where I work (I'm in a Union, btw "United Steel Workers") my employer is obligated to pay me for 4 hours work if I show up and have nothing to do, then get sent home early. That applies under any circumstance except fire or layoff.

OH I'm in Kentucky, btw.

[Matthyahuw]

I've been sent home from Motorla w/o work but 4hr pay...only happend twice in 6yrs, but ya, it happens.

Usually they make you do busywork for those 4hrs tho...

[DaveW]

Originally posted by Serath
Where I work (I'm in a Union, btw "United Steel Workers") my employer is obligated to pay me for 4 hours work if I show up and have nothing to do, then get sent home early.

Unless you are locked out for refusing to work mandatory unpaid overtime, which happened to some other USWA union members I know...

[PsychoSy]

The Teamsters Union does this, too. My friend John was working in Detroit at the River Rouge plant and when the lines went down for retooling for a week, he'd still show up for work to get that mandatory 3 hours "show-up time" everyday.

Drive in.

Wave to the foreman.

Drive off.

There's a joke in just about any unionized automobile plant. How many Teamsters does it take to screw in a lightbulb? The answer is 2 - one Electrician's Union laborman to hold the lightbulb, one person from the Carpenters Union to hold the ladder, and every one else stands around bitching, "Ay, them punks are doing my work!"

:)

[Son Goku]

Whether they're required by law to pay or not, not sure...though some places. My Oracle DBA 1 teacher used to work at UNM continuing ed (and besides the copious things they pulled which potentially landed them in trouble with Oracle), this is what was pulled there.

Now the guy is retired, and also has a consulting business of his own. But he also teaches. So they'd give him certain classes, and then the lady who was in charge (also the other instructor) would then sign all the students up for her class, except the clueless one's. So now, he couldn't do any consulting business then, had to reserve the slot...and came in first day to find out he had no class, because all the students she had assigned to herself.

I used to work at a place that pulled some things too, after management changed hands. They got themselves in a bit of a reputation with the town too.

They weren't unionized (like the stores in the southern states) (it was a grocery store chain), and kept trying to tell the workers how much life is better without unions because there are no dues and people could speak to them directly. "Honestly, we'll take care of you" and I was to see just how "taken care of" we were about to be.

It was after I had been working there 3 years, that things began to get bad. They were putting out help wanted signs and hiring new employees in droves, despite the fact they didn't have enough work for everyone to do. As the work hours kept getting cut, they just continued hiring more people. Meanwhile the new management started spying on workers like hawks...as if they were almost looking for something...

It was then December and they had us go to a meeting to discuss the new pay scale, how we'd all be getting raises, and all the new benefit packages. Only thing is, none of us were to see them.

This is because one month after this was discussed, they didn't lay off...no they fired over 90% of all employees who had worked there for 3+ years, based largely on bogus or trumped up reasons (which well in my case didn't fly with unemployment). Oh and during the hearing to investigate this, they didn't even show up as they were required by law, waited until after I made my statement, and then sent them a letter to discount my own testimony, which letter itself was discounted after review.

After this, and with practically no experienced workers left...there were problems for customers, who also complained in droves about all the workers now not knowing how to do their jobs. And of course the people who could have taught them were all just fired after the mass hiring.

I have since left the state...but I was informed that the new employees they just replaced all of us with, were fired yet another 3 years latter...as they did the same thing again.

[DaveW]

That story sounds familiar. I've seen it before. They institute all sorts of new policies and practically everything is a firing offense. Like spending more than 10 minutes a day on the web is a firing offense. Being late for work by more than 15 minutes twice in one week is a firing offense. Or my personal favorite, if you are on medication (in this case chemotherapy) and you don't tell your supervisor, they fire you under the drug and alcohol policy.

Its all just a way to get rid of old staff and replace them with cheaper new staff. In this job market it works because there are lots of people desperate enough to work for 5 bucks an hour.

Remember kids, never document anything you do! :D If your boss raises it as an issue, assume he is planning to fire you and go back to your desk and work on your resume.