is it legal to terminate and employee for refusing to work over time?

Question

The exact line in the Typed book reads Failure to cooperate with reasonable requests to work overtime when required to properly handle business will resulf in termination.

The exact line in the Typed book reads Failure to cooperate with reasonable requests to work overtime when required to properly handle business will resulf in termination. when there was no contract signed at hireing and overtime was not mentioned when hired on with this hotel and by typed book i mean a list of pages i am having to type so that they are not hand written by management. There is no handbook.

Answer 1

Well, yes it is illegal, but most employers who want people to work over time will simply find another reason to get ride of you if you are not wiling to do the OT. I know it is not fair, but the business world often is not.

Answer 2

Unless you have a contract for employment, you are an at will employee. This means you serve at the will of the employer. Each sides have the right to terminate the employment at any time for no reason whatsoever.

Only an employee with a contract for employment which specifically sets forth that there will be no overtime would be able to refuse the overtime without fear of termination. Of course the employer could then come up with another reason.

Answer 3

If you are in a contract with your employer and this is in the Employee Handbook, then yes. It is the companies policy and right to terminate any employee that refuses to comply with their policies. If you signed on the dotted line, and didn't read before you signed, doesn't matter, the company assumes that when you sign, you read what your signing. If you are unable to work over time, for a specific reason, present your immediate supervisor (chain of command) a written explanation. I am sure that if you provide a reasonable explanation, the company may be able to work with you.
I live in Virginia, Commonwealth - we are a "Right to work State" - the employer doesn't have to give you a reason to terminate an employee. Sucks!!! But I have never been put in this position, never been terminated. Check the laws in your state....
http://www.nrtw.org/rtws.htm

Answer 4

It might very well be legal, but it almost invariably is not a good idea. Employees are valuable resources that can be hard to replace. Pissed off employees can cause major problems. It would probably be better to have a private discussion with the employee to find out why they are refusing to work overtime and possibly convince them why they should. They may have a very good reason for not wanting to work overtime and that should be respected. You will have more success getting employees to do what you want if you work with them and respect them rather than "boss" them around.

Answer 5

Professional Advocate answer: NO, it's not illegal. Especailly depending on your state. Some states, such as Texas, can fire an employee if they don't like the color of your shoes. Lawsuits can occur if you feel there is discrimination, etc.

Under the FLSA
Federal overtime law under the FLSA does not prohibit employers from forcing employees to work mandatory overtime.

In fact, the FLSA doesn't at all restrict the total number of work hours that employers may schedule for employees who are age 16 or older. The FLSA restricts work hours only for employees who are younger than age 16.

In other words, there are no protections under the FLSA for workers 16 and older who refuse to work mandatory overtime. As a result, workers 16 and older who refuse to work it are "legally" subject to employer discipline, up to and including discharge.

If the related bill passes, the Federal Safe Nursing and Patient Care Act of 2005 will restrict mandatory overtime for nurses at certain patient-care facilities that receive Medicare payments. Meanwhile, some states have already enacted equivalent laws, while others are considering it. Regardless, such restrictions are designed to protect patients more than nurses, from weariness induced by mandatory overtime.

Under FLSA overtime law (exclusive of child-labor provisions), total daily and weekly work hours are a matter of contractual agreement between employers and employees or employers and unions. In the absence of contractual agreements that restrict work hours, employers may effectively force employees to work any number of mandatory overtime hours.

If you are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or Rehabilitation Act, then your employer might be required to modify your mandatory overtime schedule to reasonably accommodate your disability.

Subsequently, without union representation and outside of filing a lawsuit, negotiating one-on-one or through your attorney is likely to be the only "legal" way to convince your employer to reduce your mandatory overtime work hours. If that fails, then you'll likely have little choice but to involuntarily work the forced overtime or quit for a better job.

The state (or municipality) in which you work might have enacted its own overtime law, that has more generous employee provisions than the FLSA. However, it's not likely to restrict the number of mandatory overtime hours for all workers. To find out, start by checking with the relevant state labor department or consult an attorney.

You may find additional help at this website: http://employeeissues.com/mandatory_overtime.htm

Answer 6

If that is exactly what the books says, then yes it is legal. Not sure what state you are in but in California you have to be VERY careful that you follow the law to the T because labor laws are in favor of the employee, not the employer. You should make sure that your requests are reasonable as the book states or you may have a problem.

Answer 7

you do no longer say the region you're located, so this answer pertains to the U.S. i'm no longer a legal professional, yet i've got have been given controlled agencies in 3 states and been by ability of numerous instructions in workers regulation. i'm no longer responsive to any rules prohibiting this. Your fairly recourse is that in case you could instruct that the authentic reason is discrimination against conceivable-loose type (gender, race, faith, age, etc.). on the numerous hand, there are no longer many reliable motives to refuse you in case you have the talents and a powerful artwork historic previous. basically, many agencies motivate workers to refer acquaintances and acquaintences as long as there should not be any conflicts of activity. (An social accumulating of this could be interior the journey that your buddy would desire to be your boss.) If it fairly is not from now on the case, in uncomplicated terms prepare someplace else. If this guy or woman is a foul supervisor, you will in all risk be extra suitable helpful off in yet yet another activity.

Answer 8

If that is how they have it listed, then they are legal in their determination. If the person has a problem with the 'reasonable' portion, then that person might have ground to fight, but it probably wouldn't be worth the fight. If an employer puts that in their handbook, I wouldn't haven't started wroking for them.

Answer 9

If those are the rules when you took the job, yes it is legal.

The tricky part is 'reasonable'. you would have to prove the requests were un-reasonable for the firing to be possibly wrong.

Answer 10

Yes, unless you signed a contract that stated you do not have to work overtime. Now on the converse, they have to pay you at least time and a half.