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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Posts
    4

    Angry Unfair Compensation for Employees Who Work on Holidays

    Ok, so I may just be acting petty, but let me get some other opinions. I recently started at a retail company that has a few hundred stores. I work in a location that happens to be open on all holidays. Part of my benefits package as a full time employee is to get certain paid holidays throughout the year (fairly standard). Right before Thanksgiving there was an email sent out that stated all employees who worked on said holiday would receive time and a half during that shift (again, fairly standard). However, they also stated that nobody could receive holiday pay AND holiday OT. This didn't seem right to me. So to illustrate my point I will give the examples I gave to my supervisor:

    Employee A: FT employee in standard market. During the holiday week, works 4 full shifts. Store is closed on holiday, and nobody works. Gets holiday pay, as per benefits package.
    (Works 32 hour week - gets paid for 40 - gets 8 "free" hours paid)


    Employee B: FT employee in tourist market. During the holiday week, works full 40 hours. The store is open, but they do NOT work. Still gets holiday pay, as per benefits package.
    (Works 40 hour week - gets paid for 48 - gets 8 "free" hours paid)


    Employee C: PT employee without benefits in tourist market. Works a full shift on holiday and gets rewarded with time and a half.
    (Works 24 hour week - gets paid for 28 - gets 4 "free" hours paid)


    ME: FT employee in tourist market. During the holiday week, I worked a full 40 hours, including just 6 on the holiday. LOST my holiday pay and got the holiday OT instead.
    (Works 40 hour week - gets paid for 43 - gets 3 "free" hours paid)

    The above is what I actually worked during Thanksgiving week. Even if I had worked the full 8 hour day on the holiday, I would have still lost a minimum of 4 benefit hours.

    So, to sum it up, I basically feel like I was inadvertently punished for giving up my Thanksgiving and going to help out at work instead. My direct supervisor agrees with me, and I have asked about upcoming holidays. Even though upper management admits there was an issue with the last holiday, they are doing nothing to change it. I am scheduled to work on Christmas morning, but not on new years day. The week of Christmas, I will paid at least 4 hours LESS than week of New Years for the exact same amount of work!!!

    This is a fairly new job for me, and I hate to be upset about something so trivial, so soon, but I honestly feel robbed, and there's nothing I can do about it.

    Any ideas???

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Somewhere near Canada
    Posts
    35,894

    Default Re: New Policy Punishes Those That Work on Holidays

    Honestly? Given the state of the economy, I would not rock the boat over 4 hours. You might find yourself out of a job by New Year's.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Posts
    4

    Default Re: New Policy Punishes Those That Work on Holidays

    I sort of agree, and I have no intention of throwing a fit over it. It's just been grating on me for weeks now. If it was just a weird situation where I lost four hours to some clerical error, that would suck, but I'd let it go. It's the combination of all the factors that just makes me feel sick. In every other store in the country, all the FT employees get paid for doing nothing, on a holiday, while the store is closed and making no money. I on the other hand, show up and make them tons of money, while I could be doing something holiday related, and I get PENALIZED for it. It's like them saying to me; "Merry Christmas!, here's your pay cut!" Frankly, I'd rather go volunteer at a soup kitchen for 4 hours that day. I'd make the same amount, and I would't feel miserable afterward.

    At the end of the day, I don't think the policy was put in place maliciously. And I think if the people who did it thought it through a bit, they'd quickly fix the issue. It's the fact that such a choice was made without any apparent thought put into its very disturbing to me. What other policies will I run in to down the line? I like the store, and quite frankly, I am paid very well. I won't starve to death losing the few hundred that these holidays will cost me, but I worry still. This entire fiasco simply calls into question the decision making skills of the people who sign my check.

    Am I wrong?

    P.S.
    Not for nothing, but I don't really think that your economy argument is completely valid in this scenario. It's a little like telling a woman whose husband treats her badly to just stick it out, cause the dating scene is rough these days. I've never had trouble getting hired, as I'm very good at what I do. Will I storm out like a petulant child? No, of course not. But I also don't feel that I should have to subject myself to having benefits that I earn stripped away, simply because someone didn't think before making policy.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Somewhere near Canada
    Posts
    35,894

    Default Re: New Policy Punishes Those That Work on Holidays

    Quote Quoting NoCaution
    View Post
    I sort of agree, and I have no intention of throwing a fit over it. It's just been grating on me for weeks now. If it was just a weird situation where I lost four hours to some clerical error, that would suck, but I'd let it go. It's the combination of all the factors that just makes me feel sick. In every other store in the country, all the FT employees get paid for doing nothing, on a holiday, while the store is closed and making no money. I on the other hand, show up and make them tons of money, while I could be doing something holiday related, and I get PENALIZED for it. It's like them saying to me; "Merry Christmas!, here's your pay cut!" Frankly, I'd rather go volunteer at a soup kitchen for 4 hours that day. I'd make the same amount, and I would't feel miserable afterward.

    At the end of the day, I don't think the policy was put in place maliciously. And I think if the people who did it thought it through a bit, they'd quickly fix the issue. It's the fact that such a choice was made without any apparent thought put into its very disturbing to me. What other policies will I run in to down the line? I like the store, and quite frankly, I am paid very well. I won't starve to death losing the few hundred that these holidays will cost me, but I worry still. This entire fiasco simply calls into question the decision making skills of the people who sign my check.

    Am I wrong?

    P.S.
    Not for nothing, but I don't really think that your economy argument is completely valid in this scenario. It's a little like telling a woman whose husband treats her badly to just stick it out, cause the dating scene is rough these days. I've never had trouble getting hired, as I'm very good at what I do. Will I storm out like a petulant child? No, of course not. But I also don't feel that I should have to subject myself to having benefits that I earn stripped away, simply because someone didn't think before making policy.

    Wow. That's one hell of an analogy fail.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    OH10
    Posts
    17,019

    Default Re: New Policy Punishes Those That Work on Holidays

    I would think the logical outcome would have been time and a half. The half paid in part as a reduction to the paid holiday. IE work 8 hr holiday get days pay and 1/2 day OT and 1/2 Hol Pay = 8hr pay work plus 8 hr additional.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Posts
    8,006

    Default Re: New Policy Punishes Those That Work on Holidays

    It's pretty much been the standard everywhere I've worked, to include multiple retail establishments, that you get either or and not both. You get time and a half (so extra money) for working the holiday. Those that don't work the holiday get a single day's pay.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: New Policy Punishes Those That Work on Holidays

    In what state are you, OP? In 48 out of 50 states it doesn't matter, but there are two where it does.

    FYI, in 35 years of working HR and Benefits in one of the two states that actually has laws about holiday pay, I have NEVER seen a policy where you get holiday pay and pay for working both.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Posts
    4

    Default Re: New Policy Punishes Those That Work on Holidays

    I'm not saying I want both, or that I'm somehow entitled to more than others, but the math here is so blatantly unfair. There's simply no way around it. If you are a FT employee that works on the holiday, you are losing money compared to every other FT employee that doesn't. If they gave me the 8 hours, and then just paid me regular time on the holiday, I would just let it go entirely. That's not what's happening. My actual time-clock that week reflected the 8 hours of holiday pay, and the second I clocked in on thanksgiving, it was taken away! I understand that I probably have no legal recourse, but the fact that every other FT employee in the company is getting the day off with 8 hours, while I am forced to work and essentially lose money is absurd. The only people in my location that are benefiting, are PT employees that would not get any holiday pay anyway, and FT employees that stay home that day. The part that makes me nuts is that I can't seem to get anyone except my direct supervisor to understand how this is unfair. They all just jump straight to the statement; "you can't both".

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: New Policy Punishes Those That Work on Holidays

    So it's unfair. That and $2.00 will get you a cup of coffee. Life is unfair. Suck it up, buttercup.

    You have no legal recourse, that's exactly right. The law requires that you be paid for the time that you work. It does not require that you be paid for time that you don't work. Since the distinction is not being made on the basis of a characteristic protected by law, you're SOL.

    If it bothers you this much, maybe you should find employment in a field that never requires weekend or holiday work.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Somewhere near Canada
    Posts
    35,894

    Default Re: New Policy Punishes Those That Work on Holidays

    Quote Quoting cbg
    View Post
    So it's unfair. That and $2.00 will get you a cup of coffee. Life is unfair. Suck it up, buttercup.

    You have no legal recourse, that's exactly right. The law requires that you be paid for the time that you work. It does not require that you be paid for time that you don't work. Since the distinction is not being made on the basis of a characteristic protected by law, you're SOL.

    If it bothers you this much, maybe you should find employment in a field that never requires weekend or holiday work.

    That would rule out being a quarterback, then.

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