Archived Can they require you to stay at the store, off the clock?

[bananaman]

Hi, I have a question about something that keeps happening to my store.

I work on the early morning flow crew and am required to be there at a certain time. However, there have been instances, usually either Christmas or a VIP visit, where they schedule the truck to come extra early so we can start earlier than usual in the hopes of finishing the truck and getting done ahead of our usual schedule.

That is all fine and good. My team comes in, no problem. But, there were quite a few times where the truck wasn't there. What happened then was, the Logistics ETL told all of us to NOT clock in and instead, go and wait in the break room until the truck came. There were times when we even waited in the break room, off the clock, for an entire hour. When this kept happening, we were told that we could clock in, but those that did would have bad reviews and "If you don't like it here, we have a stack of applicants wanting to get in.". So in order to keep our jobs, we all just sat there and twiddled our thumbs.

Is this allowed? Has this happened to anyone else? Can anyone give me any advice?

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

That sound like a threat. You need talk to your hr or stl, without delay. The downside is, they can send you home early, too.

 

[masterofalltrades]

Hi, I have a question about something that keeps happening to my store.

I work on the early morning flow crew and am required to be there at a certain time. However, there have been instances, usually either Christmas or a VIP visit, where they schedule the truck to come extra early so we can start earlier than usual in the hopes of finishing the truck and getting done ahead of our usual schedule.

That is all fine and good. My team comes in, no problem. But, there were quite a few times where the truck wasn't there. What happened then was, the Logistics ETL told all of us to NOT clock in and instead, go and wait in the break room until the truck came. There were times when we even waited in the break room, off the clock, for an entire hour. When this kept happening, we were told that we could clock in, but those that did would have bad reviews and "If you don't like it here, we have a stack of applicants wanting to get in.". So in order to keep our jobs, we all just sat there and twiddled our thumbs.

Is this allowed? Has this happened to anyone else? Can anyone give me any advice?

Absolutely not, requiring you to be present without pay is illegal in almost every state, and is against company policy. If this happens again you need to tell your stl, if he/she doesn't have a problem with this , then contact the hotline at 1-800-541-6838.

 

[commiecorvus]

They can ask you to wait, they can't tell you to wait.

Their argument is going to be you mistook the first for the second.
Which is BS since if you don't wait and you get marked as a trouble maker.
Having you just clock the hell in and find stuff to do for an hour isn't going to kill them and would be in the law but that's what you get with metrics on the brain.

 

[tgtguy]

You would think that if they had your team coming in early they would make sure the truck was there early...but then again we are dealing with Spot. As fas as the rest of your post...yeah it does sound like a threat your etl is making. If you don't feel comfortable talking to your hr or stl call the hotline.

 

[daninnj]

Call hotline immediately. Did the ETL tell that to you personally, to others, or a group of people? If it was personally, I would say something like "I overheard [ETL] saying that to a few TMs."

 

[Sushi2Go]

When this happens at our store, the logistics ETL usually have everyone start pushing any calfs/push from the night before or go backs.

 

[anathema]

Man, sometimes I hate my store, but the crap I hear about others makes me never want to transfer.

 

[POGguy]

It amazes me when I hear stories like this. I would be doing a punch correction and state what the ETL said in the comment section.

 

[Amaazingdude]

Call the hotline ASAP.

 

[bananaman]

Call hotline immediately. Did the ETL tell that to you personally, to others, or a group of people? If it was personally, I would say something like "I overheard [ETL] saying that to a few TMs."

It was to the group of us. This has happened at least 6 times at my store since November that I can remember. We were told if we went home, it was an offense that we could be fired for.

 

[commiecorvus]

It was to the group of us. This has happened at least 6 times at my store since November that I can remember. We were told if we went home, it was an offense that we could be fired for.

Bull Shit.
If they are not paying you than you can go home.
Keeping you there is against the law.
If they told you that flat out than they crossed the line and should be reported.

 

[bananaman]

My crew and I have been asking ourselves if this was Brand behavior or even legal for that matter. I thank everyone for their advice, and tomorrow I'm going to call the hotline. I'll let you all know how it goes.

 

[mrknownothing]

When this happens at our store, the logistics ETL usually have everyone start pushing any calfs/push from the night before or go backs.

This. If the truck isn't there yet, you might as well at least get the autofills out of the way.

 

[Reshop Ninja]

Bull Shit.
If they are not paying you than you can go home.
Keeping you there is against the law.
If they told you that flat out than they crossed the line and should be reported.

Um, you may want to look at this. http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...c67c0c-7fb9-11e4-81fd-8c4814dfa9d7_story.html

 

[commiecorvus]

Um, you may want to look at this. http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...c67c0c-7fb9-11e4-81fd-8c4814dfa9d7_story.html

That's different.
They were trying to get paid for the time it took to be run through the time in security lines after they had clocked out.
This was after they had worked a shift.

What they are talking about is being scheduled, coming in, being told the truck isn't here yet, don't clock in but you have to wait until the truck gets here and then clock in.
Sorry but that's wrong.
If you are scheduled to start at a certain time and they don't the truck, they can tell you to go home (and pay your for three hours), have you clock in and do something, or ask you to wait if you want to.
They can NOT tell you to wait or you will be fired.

 

[Reshop Ninja]

That's different.
They were trying to get paid for the time it took to be run through the time in security lines after they had clocked out.
This was after they had worked a shift.

What they are talking about is being scheduled, coming in, being told the truck isn't here yet, don't clock in but you have to wait until the truck gets here and then clock in.
Sorry but that's wrong.
If you are scheduled to start at a certain time and they don't the truck, they can tell you to go home (and pay your for three hours), have you clock in and do something, or ask you to wait if you want to.
They can NOT tell you to wait or you will be fired.

I know this was a different situation but the point I was trying to make is I'm not sure how much help the law actually would be. I was just using the article as an example.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Before you call the hotline, make certain that you have the events documented well. Be prepared for your mgt to talk you or your folks about the events. That's why you should express your concerns with your store stl or hr, first.

Why wasnt it reported sooner?

 

[buliSBI]

If a truck was late at my stores, they told the Flow team to start zoning or work pulls or be back at the store within an hour.

Having you to wait at the store without clocking in is illegal. Even if the truck was late, you should be paid for the time you were scheduled.

 

[Mhugh220]

As a former ETL-Log who has been in this situation, I agree with what everyone is saying. We can recommend waiting, staying, or going home - but in no way can we threaten it will negatively impact your performance. On days like this the team was just as pissed as I was but we pulled autofills and pushed them, helped the closing team zone, etc. Never did I say sit here and not get paid. However, there were occasions when I really didn't have too much for them to do, other than shitty work, so a lot of them sat in the breakroom while on the clock.

Before you move forward with this, I recommend not doing it alone. Act as a united team or this will just blow over. There's definitely strength in numbers and if everyone has the same story it will be easy to prove your point. Good luck! What your ETL did was wrong.

 

[commiecorvus]

As a former ETL-Log who has been in this situation, I agree with what everyone is saying. We can recommend waiting, staying, or going home - but in no way can we threaten it will negatively impact your performance. On days like this the team was just as pissed as I was but we pulled autofills and pushed them, helped the closing team zone, etc. Never did I say sit here and not get paid. However, there were occasions when I really didn't have too much for them to do, other than shitty work, so a lot of them sat in the breakroom while on the clock.

Before you move forward with this, I recommend not doing it alone. Act as a united team or this will just blow over. There's definitely strength in numbers and if everyone has the same story it will be easy to prove your point. Good luck! What your ETL did was wrong.

Thank You.

 

[POGguy]

I also think the hotline should be avoided.....at least for now.

As a group I would bring it to the ETL HR and STL attention first. Most likely that will resolve it. No way it should fly with them. If it does you got other issues and the hotline option should then be explored.

 

[buliSBI]

You might just want to get others from the team and check with the STL and ETL-HR about this. Sending it to the Hotline might be overkill at this time.

 

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