Hi,

I am a salary paid worker. I work as the IT Processing manager at a small company. Recently my father fell ill with colon cancer. I told my employer and all the higher ups said take as much time off as needed and it won't affect my time at the company. I have the emails that were sent by them. Then one of them mentioned a pay increase to help me pay the doctor bills. He came to me and told me it was approved. Two months passed and I still haven't received it. Also, the CTO called me into his office and brought up the raise. He said that they are going to give me a 6 month review instead of a year review however, the time taken off to take my father to the doctor will affect my raise. I argued with him because I even though I may not be in the office I work from home and I put in more than 40 hours a week. They gave me access to working from home because my work tends to need me to work late and they give me the opportunity to just do it from home instead of in the office. I never missed a due date, when I was a temp they never paid me for the overtime I worked and then said it was never approved unfortunately the approvals I did receive were verbal so they got me there.

Is it legal for them to use me taking my father to the doctor against me in anyway if they said in writing that I can take as much time off as I need?
Also, do I have anything on them about the promised raise that I never received?
Do I have anything against them for the overtime worked when I was a temp or did I just work for free for so much time?

When you were a temp were you through an agency or just with the company. Really doesn't matter, if you were an hourly employee and worked more than 40 hours a week you should have been paid overtime. Do you have anything in writing saying it was not approved? Even if it is not approved if you worked it you must be paid for it.

You are allowed 12 weeks a year time off under the FMLA legislation to care for an ill parent , spouse or child. This is unpaid leave, but under this legislation they have to hold your job and cannot penalize you for taking time off.

If you have emails saying you can take off as much time as you need and you are penalized for taking off than you can file a claim with the EEOC (equal employment opportunity commission). The Department of Labor may also be able to help you. You should not be penalized for this reason.

Raises are not regulated by law, but if it was promised to you and you have emails or such promising it to you than the Department of Labor may help you get it.

Good Luck

Shirley

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Originally Posted by Wildsporty

When you were a temp were you through an agency or just with the company. Really doesn't matter, if you were an hourly employee and worked more than 40 hours a week you should have been paid overtime. Do you have anything in writing saying it was not approved? Even if it is not approved if you worked it you must be paid for it.

You are allowed 12 weeks a year time off under the FMLA legislation to care for an ill parent , spouse or child. This is unpaid leave, but under this legislation they have to hold your job and cannot penalize you for taking time off.

If you have emails saying you can take off as much time as you need and you are penalized for taking off than you can file a claim with the EEOC (equal employment opportunity commission). The Department of Labor may also be able to help you. You should not be penalized for this reason.

Raises are not regulated by law, but if it was promised to you and you have emails or such promising it to you than the Department of Labor may help you get it.

Good Luck

Shirley

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Which agency do I contact about not being paid the overtime? The issue I have is HR is a regular worker on the payroll and he does the dirty work for the upper management. Employees do not have any support what so ever from HR. Plus me requesting my pay will probably cost me my job but If it gets me the $1,000 I'm owed and I can land a new job right away I'm not really stressing the job. Plus with them making their constant comments about me taking off I really don't care if I lose it or not. They know when I have to take my father to chemo because I gave them the schedule ahead of time, and it was approved but now it's a problem because the CIO and CTO has to actually come to work those days and they complain about it. They tried to tell me that I have to go to Arizona for two weeks and I should forget about taking care of my father. I never took the job to travel and it was not in my job description. They don't even pay for gas or toll when they send me to a customer's site. I'm pretty sure if I contact an agency to help me they will fire me just like how they fire everyone on the spot if they put their two weeks in. Can they fire me for contacting an agency?

They cannot fire you for putting a claim in with an agency. That is retaliation and it is illegal. If you are fired for this reason it is an wrongful termination and you will be allowed to draw your unemployment insurance.

It takes a while to file a wage claim so you will not receive the money in a speedy fashion.

To file a wage claim you contact your local department of labor.

To file a discrimination claim for being discriminated against because of taking time off to help your father you contact the EEOC.


Shirley

First, I don't think FMLA applies here because you did not take a leave of absence. You simply asked for more flexibility in your work schedule so you could deal with your personal crisis.

Second, I really think you are being ungrateful. You went to your employers with a personal issue and they responded by being generous allowing you to deal with the crisis as you saw fit. That sounds to me like a considerate and generous employer.

Now maybe they think you are taking too much advantage of their generosity, I don't know. I would certainly argue that your review should not be adversly affected by your taking time to deal with the crisis since they told you take what time you needed. I would point out that you have continued to be productive and met all deadlines despite dealing with the crisis.

As to the unpaid OT, how long ago was this? And it does matter whether you were working through a temp agency or not. Most times when working through a temp agency, THEY are your employer and they pay you, so if you weren't paid OT you would be going after them, not the company where you worked.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

First, I don't think FMLA applies here because you did not take a leave of absence. You simply asked for more flexibility in your work schedule so you could deal with your personal crisis.

Second, I really think you are being ungrateful. You went to your employers with a personal issue and they responded by being generous allowing you to deal with the crisis as you saw fit. That sounds to me like a considerate and generous employer.

Now maybe they think you are taking too much advantage of their generosity, I don't know. I would certainly argue that your review should not be adversly affected by your taking time to deal with the crisis since they told you take what time you needed. I would point out that you have continued to be productive and met all deadlines despite dealing with the crisis.

As to the unpaid OT, how long ago was this? and it does matter whether you were working thru a temp agency or not. Most times when working thru a temp agency, THEY are your employer and they pay you, so if you weren't paid OT you would be going after them, not the company where you worked.

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First off I'm not being ungrateful. I work from home any of the days I do not show from work for 8 hours so I give them their minimum 40 hours a week. They are the ones who are acting out towards me, they knew the schedule and approved it. It's not like I'm taking off randomly, I take off Tuesdays and Thursdays every two weeks to take him to chemo. They approved it so I can't see where you are getting off as me being ungrateful. The CTO and CIO are mad because they have to actually show up to work for once because I'm not there. They get well over 40 hours a week from me because I also work on the weekends without any complaint. I stay really late hours without complaining. I don't ask for more money they offered it to me. Their courtesy only lasted for as long as two weeks then they realized that it's not like my father is going to get better right away. After they approved the schedule, which I have in writing they started to complain. I got my approval and said thank you. From the way I see it I am being grateful. I am the only one who has never been late on a deadline even with the time off, if anything they should be grateful because I was going to leave the company to take care of my father and I told them it before they approved my schedule. They just don't have that in writing.

Ok, maybe they are regretting their largesse. Like I said, you seem to have enough to argue your review.

I notice you didn't respond to the question about the temp work.

Liquid 121,

Employees are a valuable commodity. You should not be penalized for a life event over which you have no control.

You can use FMLA intermittently an hour at a time and you do not have to ask for it the company is responsible to put you on it when they are aware of a condition and when you ask for time off. It also can run concurrent with other leave plans.

Shirley

Scott Gem is correct about the temp work. If you worked for the temp agency than you are paid by the temp agency and them are responsible for the overtime.

If you were a temp employee on the companies books as a temp and they were paying your wages than they are responsible for the overtime.

You do have to work with the company so it may be in your best interests to negotiate with them.

Shirley

I thought you said you are a salaried employee? If that is true, there really is not an overtime issue. Any extra time you put in is just that, you usually are not compensated for that above and beyond your salary. Did you sign a contract? If so, go back and review your contract. You may be surprised at what you read and what you thought may not effect you is now doing just that. If they promised you a raise and you have it in writing, I believe they should honor it. Just remember to keep your cool because if you fly off the handle and say something that could be considered insubordination, they can fire you for that itself.

With today's economic situation, there are normally 100 applications for any one opening.
So raises are less than ever before, in fact many companies are lowering the pay of many employees because they can. And they know they can often replace people at lower wages.

Raises can be considered and then latter decided not to, and if they had given it they can just as easy take it away.

Yes, they can use anything they want to evaluate you and your performance, work at home, you spend less gas, so they can pay less, and so on.

You have no real way to force them, And to be honest it sounds like they are bending over to help and work with you,
I don't know anyone that would do that, they would have said be at work or be fired.