Mandatory Overtime?

WeirdNut · September 2011

Due to the recent hurricane in the Northeast, there has been a large influx of people calling in to my call center, to report outages to their service (cable). I work four ten hour shifts, and have a second job on the side, to make ends meet. This week they have been asking people to stay late if possible, or come in on their days off, which I unfortunately can not do. Today, a quite rude email was sent, in which we were told that if we did not have enough people to volunteer to work Sunday and Monday, that we would be forced to work mandatory overtime on these said days. Normally we are not open on Sunday, and this Monday is a scheduled holiday, which I am not scheduled to work. The email made mention of the fact that having another part time job was not an excuse, and that we should focus on our full time job. I am all for making extra cash, and if I had not committed myself to my other 25 hour a week job I would have jumped at the chance. My question is if this is a legal practice? The state I live in is an at will employment state (CT). I felt very awkward and uncomfortable, feeling pressured to take on extra hours, and call out of my other job to do so. I declined to do this, and will find out tomorrow if this "mandatory" overtime goes forward. I have searched the department of labor site, but have not found much pertaining to the ability to order mandatory overtime, especially at the detriment of other opportunities. Does anyone have any similar experience, and am I within my legal rights to decline to work said overtime? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Karrmer · September 2011

I work in a call center and we have mandatory overtime. I live in a different state (California) and a different profession (9-1-1) so this isn't exactly the same but just saying that mandatory overtime DOES exist. I guess it depends what your employment contract states or something.

taliosfalcon · September 2011

You're pretty much screwed, at will in north america means they can, and most likely will fire you for declining OT

lonelyahava · September 2011

I did call center as a 411 operator up in Maine for a few years. There was a 6 month stretch where the entire office was on mandatory overtime. We worked 6 days a week, 8 hour shifts. We got paid for it handsomely, but after a while only having one day off can get to you.

So yes, Mandatory overtime is a thing.

Docken · September 2011

Go immediately to your Manager and volunteer for any times that do not conflict with your other job - hopefully you'll be able to volunteer enough so that you don't have to jeopardise either job.

MrMonroe · September 2011

There's no one qualified here who can ethically answer this question, and you need a CT-bar admitted attorney to seriously answer this question.

But my suspicion is that they're perfectly within their rights to strongarm you like this. Docken makes the best suggestion from a practical point of view.

bowen · September 2011

Yeah that is generally how it works. Honestly, the part time job is better to jeopardize anyways. Just let your part time job supervisor know that this is the case, hopefully they can be lenient. But absolutely is going and volunteering for extra overtime good, this will come back as good karma when you get your review hopefully.

You could also tell them to go suck a bag of cocks and get unemployment when they fire you, but that's your call to make.

Sir Carcass · September 2011

Yes, At Will states mean they can require you to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and fire you if you don't (at least to my understanding).

Any sane employer that requires mandatory overtime would have a range in which you could schedule your OT because most people have things to work around. In your situation, I would volunteer for some OT if you can, and just wait until they instate mandatory OT and see if they can work around your schedule. If you're willing to work with them, they'll probably be willing to work with you.

Just as another anecdote, the department I used to work in at my current employer would go through phases of mandatory OT based on need. I did several month stretches of mandatory 18 hours of OT a week. That shit sucks, let me tell you, and I really feel for you, but hopefully this is temporary.

bowen · September 2011

If your full time job pays more than your part time job, not including the overtime for non-exempt employees factored in there, take that damned overtime.

tinwhiskers · September 2011

Not a lawyer but: Yes, it's legal. Shit needs doing and they need people to do it. There are some restrictions state to state, stuff like you can't be required to work 7 days a week(but you can play with this and require stuff like 12 days in a row), and probably max hours per day and such, but yes then can require overtime.

L Ron Howard · September 2011

I know that in manufacturing, where my father works, they have mandatory overtime. It's cheaper to pay the OT than it is to hire more people, so if you want to work there (and make the big $$$$) you have to do the work.
The place also has a horrid divorce rate too, because the workers are obviously not home very often. And this is in the US.

Dr. Frenchenstein · September 2011

If they are forcing you to work unpaid overtime, THAT is illegal. But forcing you to work overtime and get paid accordingly is not. Most places will make you sign a form saying a second job wont interfere with the full time one. Did you sign one of those? unfortunately, you are probably going to have to bail on the part time gig if you want to keep the full time one, or at least find someone to fill in for you.

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