Slashdot Mirror
Employees Rights in an Emergency?
Waiting-for-Ivan asks: "In Florida in the past month and a half, we have survived 2 hurricanes. During the last one I was within the areas with a hurricane warning (i.e. hurricane conditions are expected within 24 hours). My company (who will remain unnamed) wanted everyone to come in. Those who did not come in had their pay docked (salary or hourly didn't matter) and threatened with loss of their pay for Labor Day. We are not an emergency facility whose services are required during an emergency. Is this legal? Can they make us come in during a hurricane warning (or any other environmental emergency) and if we refuse can they punish us for not doing so? Do we as employees have any rights (and can they dock salaried employees so easily)? What laws are in affect explaining these circumstances?
My concern here is that you aren't patriotic enough if you are asking such a question. Stop whinning. It is your patriotic duty to go to work rain or shine. It is important that you work unpaid overtime and even volunteer nights and week ends. Don't complain about your salary either, otherwise we'll outsource your job you unpatriotic-GDP-lowering-French-lover-commie.
problem: people priding themselves on making it to work regardless of the weather; a few years ago during the "blizzard of the century" (it really was, for here; >32" of snowfall w/in a 12-hour period) I knew a lot of guys who went into work knowing that the place was closed (usually because the boss had better sense...) just so that the next week (when your area's average annual snowfall is seldom >32", the authorities aren't likely to be prepared to dig the place out overnite...) they'd be able to say to the boss "Hey, I was here, where were YOU ?!?!"
On the other hand, whenever we get 160-mph winds they're usually confined to the trailer parks...
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