Archived Last-minute schedule changes

[Frizzo the Clown]

So, I'm gonna try and make a long story short. Both my wife and I work for Target (different stores). She works Plano, and is consistanly scheduled to come in at 4 am. This time of year, she is working flow, rather than Plano. Now, the schedule that was posted two weeks ago, has her working at 4 am tomorrow, as per usual. Today, out of the blue, she is told that she has to come in tomorrow at 2 am. No discussion, no asking, nothing. Its black-and-white. Now, obviously, when you have to work that early, you have to go to bed pretty early to get enough sleep to make it through the next day. As of now, she already goes to bed at about 8 pm. Thing is, she alreay has unavoidable plans for tonight, and probably won't get home until about 9 pm. She was already prepared to lose a little sleep because of this. Now, that she has to come in at 2 am, she'll need to go to bed much, much earlier. Like, I said, however, what we have going on tonight is a school-related event, and it can't be reschedled, and I already have to close tonight. My thing is, can they just flat out tell her, after the schedule has already been up for nearly two weeks, that she has to come in two hours earlier, without giving her any damned say in the matter? They've done this sort of bull**** before, and I'm really tired of it.

Mainly, I'm venting, but does anyone have any opinions on the matter?

 

[buliSBI]

From my experience, I had one Target say they were required (not sure if it was state law or company policy at the time) to give TMs 24-hour notice and the TM must say OK to having their schedule changed if it was during that current work week. If it was a week ahead, the TM just had to be notified in person by a TL/ETL.

Then another Target just changed the schedule when they felt like it, and then left notes at the time clock to say, 'Check the schedule...it has been changed/edited.'

 

[commiecorvus]

Sorry but that is wrong.
I could see them asking her if she wants to come in earlier but to tell her at the last minute is pure BS.
My suspicion is that she should have been scheduled at two in the first place and they messed up.
Well too bad, they don't get to fix it at her expense.
If she has already made plans based on the schedule they posted, they have to be fair and live with that.

 

[Frizzo the Clown]

Sorry but that is wrong.
I could see them asking her if she wants to come in earlier but to tell her at the last minute is pure BS.
My suspicion is that she should have been scheduled at two in the first place and they messed up.
Well too bad, they don't get to fix it at her expense.
If she has already made plans based on the schedule they posted, they have to be fair and live with that.

Thats what I tried to tell her, but its not always easy to stand up to someone with some authority over you. Apparently, they also sprung on her (since I talked to her last), that starting on Monday, she has to work overnights until after Christmas, regardless of schedule. Truth is, no one cares. Everyone is, honestly, scared to say anything, since everytime anyone does, it falls upon deaf ears. I'm just ****ing sick of it.

 

[pfreshdude]

Thats what I tried to tell her, but its not always easy to stand up to someone with some authority over you. Apparently, they also sprung on her (since I talked to her last), that starting on Monday, she has to work overnights until after Christmas, regardless of schedule. Truth is, no one cares. Everyone is, honestly, scared to say anything, since everytime anyone does, it falls upon deaf ears. I'm just ****ing sick of it.

Most likely they changed the truck schedules around or just found out what they are going to be, hence if she didnt work the new shifts she prob wouldnt be working at all. But ya I def agree with you.

 

[tellmeaboutatime]

If I had to guess I bet the truck is pretty big or some 4 am stores have been given the ok to come in at 2 to compensate for the insane size trucks and repacks. If she simply lets them know that unfortunately she will not be able to come in that early due to a prior commitment but will be there as scheduled at 4 it should be okay. Sometimes with a team that big it is hard to make sure that everyone knows what is going on, and the rest of the team may have already known and they were just getting a reminder. That does not make it right,just a possible explanation. I know that I am thrilled we can come in at 2 right now. With the limited equipment and huge freight flow it really helps to be able to bowl entire areas out before the store opens. Your post is a good reminder to all of us to make sure we are being considerate of everyones feelings especially during this crazy time of the year.

 

[Frizzo the Clown]

When similiar situations have happened in the past, she made a point to tell someone that a particular schedule was outside of her availibility and whatnot, and she was basically told "tough." Which is exactly why she doesn't bother anymore.

 

[StaticSun]

My ETL-HR told me we're supposed to give 48 hours notice and the reason is "business needs".

 

[buliSBI]

When it comes holiday times...'Tough' is usually the answer. There were a couple years where I was weekend only availability. But as soon as college let out for the winter break, my store at the time would schedule me. With Christmas being a weekday, and thinking I was going home 5 hours away, I found out that I was working the day before and after.

 

[Frizzo the Clown]

Yeah, heaven forbid I want to actually see my wife at some point during the Holidays, eh? "Tough," I guess.

 

[keynesian]

there are no federal laws regarding scheduling other than hourly workers must be paid time and a half after 40 hours, and I don't think any state has any schedule posting regulations or laws. now, if she were to get fired, then she could sue ex post facto for wrongful termination if the company was guilty of egregious errors on their part, or if they were treating employees unfairly. I used to work for an employer that would only schedule for the existing week, and it wouldn't be posted sometimes until sunday morning at 4am, and they could tell you to show up as early as 5a.m that same day.... they were unionized too.

 

[Frizzo the Clown]

I know that its one of those things that we can't really do a damned thing about, I just wanted to see if it was just me that gets upset at this sort of thing. It may be legal, but it certainly isn't right. On top of that, later that day, they also informed her that starting on Monday, regardless of what her schedule says, she's going to be working overnights. So...theres that.