K
Kunigunde
Guest
I work in a fast food restaurant, and I think my boss's new policy is exploiting her workers. She recently posted a concise list of "shift duties", which need to be carried out before, during, and after the shift. They sound very reasonable, but they invariably result in 40 minutes of unpaid work per worker per shift. We have to open a safe to get our keys and cash drawers, and this safe has a ten minute timer, so we HAVE to show up at least ten minutes before we start. (Most people work during these ten minutes because there's nowhere to wait around). For after the shift, there's a list of things that need to be done. They're reasonable things, like do all the dishes and make sure everything is clean, but they must be done AFTER we have stopped being paid, because for the entire time we are being paid we must remain in the kitchen or service area. The last thing on the list is "check with you supervisor to see if anything else needs to be done", and invariably there are other things that need to be done (which we are not even informed of until after our paid shift is over). We never get out of there until a half hour after the time we had stopped being paid at.
I think she might well be taking advantage of the fact that we're just a bunch of kids who know nothing about employment law (she has done this before - withholding paychecks as disciplinary action, when it is illegal to withhold payment for work that has already been completed). So do I have any legal right to refuse work that is assigned or required to be done outside of my paid shift?
I think she might well be taking advantage of the fact that we're just a bunch of kids who know nothing about employment law (she has done this before - withholding paychecks as disciplinary action, when it is illegal to withhold payment for work that has already been completed). So do I have any legal right to refuse work that is assigned or required to be done outside of my paid shift?