Work hours question

[Tia]

Hope you can follow what I'm trying to explain here.

We have a new boss after 12 years. Area has ~ 20 people. Established schedules have been created to fit the departments needs, adding new people/hours who were all hired for specific hours/days and they all knew this going in.

With new boss there has come a push for change by a couple newer to department coworkers, 3 people. They were all hired for mid shift hours, then later chose to change when opening came up to work pm hours (end of this shift is 1030pm). Same coworkers are now pressing ''it's not fair!'' and 'we want day shift hours'. Our new boss thinks this is a good idea, so is pressing a couple of us to accept switching a few of our day hours to the pm shift. New boss did say whatever the majority want, but this only involves 3 who want days from what I can tell. We all have the hours we accepted/applied for.

If this happens it will be going back and forth with sometimes just 8 hours between pm to day shifts. I also heard the newest person hired to cover mid shift hours and hearing that person is now denying this was what they were hired for!! Heard HR only has offer of full time documented, old boss says HR should have it documented listing shift that person was hired for.

Is there any protection for those who have well established hours for years?? There is more to whole deal as there is also night and weekend call hours involved.

Thanks for any thoughts on dealing with this

 

[DaveNV]

Does your company have any sort of written seniority clause? Is there a job description as advertised when the new people were hired? If that can be cited, it can be demonstrated the new hires were brought in to cover those specific shifts. If not, you may not have much to go by. The new boss may need a little private meeting with the most senior employees, and an encouragement to not screw over those who have worked there for so long. If it's only three newer hires who are complaining, and the other ~17 are satisfied, then the boss may need to step up and tell the newer hires there won't be any changes, especially if those newer hires have been working those shifts for any length of time. Perhaps they can offer shift changes to the newer hires as the more senior people leave the company.

My spouse is a 25+ year Costco staffer, and is the longest-term employee in the department. Shifts in that department are parceled down, based on employee hire date, ergo "seniority." So my spouse gets to pick the schedule that suits best (Monday thru Friday day shift only - no nights or weekends - let others handle the insane weekends at Costco. ) New hires whine often about wanting a better schedule and so forth, but everyone points to the clause in the printed Employee Agreement Handbook that says schedules are based on seniority. That quickly shuts them up. Whenever there is a turnover of personnel, there is a quick reshuffle of work shifts. It sorts itself out.

Good luck!

Dave

 

[pittle]

I have been retired for quite a while, but the place where I worked had 3 shifts. People were assigned one when hired and then if they wanted to change shifts or positions, they had to wait for Job Posting List. Whenever someone quit, changed jobs or a new job was created, you could put your name in for the job that was available.

For an exact same job title, the current employees in that job title/department could take Shift Preference (these are offered by seniority). This was how people changed shifts in equal job. The shift that was left was then put on the Posting Board and if not filled, a new person was hired where needed.

Employees were able to submit an application for a higher paying job. They had to meet the job requirements in order to get the higher paying job. People were interviewed in order of seniority.

This system was developed on the '70's and still works well today. This system prevents favoritism and discrimination. This is a large company with several manufacturing and distribution centers.

Also - The 8am - 4:30 people got the base pay for the job. Those who worked the 4:00 - 12:30 shift got an extra 7.5% and the ones who worked midnight to 8:30am got 10% pay differential. Many people chose to work the night shift hours for the extra money.

 

[Tia]

Thanks for the replies so far! Will check out suggestions. The newer persons who want day shift have been working their current shifts to 1030p for approx 2 years + without going to look at old schedules, other then the newest hire whose been there since July.

With old boss seniority is how choices/opportunities were always handled. This is part of a business that has has just short of 1000 employees according to it's website.

 

[VacationForever]

In the nursing profession, staff are hired into exact shifts that are open at that time. Morning shifts are the most popular and management usually opens them up to its current staff first, and the folks working afternoon or overnight shifts usually jump on them. There is usually some shuffling, like overnight staff picking the PM shift where staff has moved to the morning shifts. As a result new staff are typically hired into the overnight shifts. In an indirect way the best shifts are given to those with seniority.

 

[Tia]

In the nursing profession, staff are hired into exact shifts that are open at that time. Morning shifts are the most popular and management usually open them up to its current staff first, and the folks working afternoon or overnight shifts usually jump on them. There is usually some shuffling, like overnight staff picking the PM shift where staff has moved to the morning shifts. As a result new staff are typically hired into the overnight shifts. In an indirect way the best shifts are given to those with seniority.

This is exactly what's been going on , until now new boss is trying to make changes for a couple complainers that were hired into exact shift. But to prove it seems to be the question.

 

[DaveNV]

This is exactly what's been going on , until now new boss is trying to make changes for a couple complainers that were hired into exact shift. But to prove it seems to be the question.

More than ever, you should be able to prove to the boss that shifts as they exist have been in place all along. Those complainers need to be pointed out as the newest hires, and therefore, have the least leg to stand on. Push the boss to acknowledge that seniority (and therefore, loyalty), counts for something. If the newbies get the prime shifts, when a more-senior NON-complainer might also want it, then why even work there? There has to be some sort of compensation for dedicated work.

Dave

 

[pedro47]

First do you have a company handbook. That is current.
What is stated in written about the company hours of work and seniority?
What is writing in the company handbook about changing hours of works in regard to a new employee hired and a senior employee?

Normally, the last person hired has the worst shifts and hours of work. IMO.

 

[Tia]

I'll be pulling up it up on a work computer Monday to see what's in there

First do you have a company handbook. That is current.
What is stated in written about the company hours of work and seniority?
What is writing in the company handbook about changing hours of works in regard to a new employee hired and a senior employee?

Normally, the last person hired has the worst shifts and hours of work. IMO.

 

[turkel]

As a nurse who works 3 to 1130 pm if I return to work with less than an eight hour rest period I receive “double back” pay. Essentially time and one half pay.

 

[WinniWoman]

It all depends on what is written in the employee handbook. And if you are in a state like NY (an at will employer state) an employer can do whatever he/she wants- change whatever he/she wants and whenever he/she wants. So you have to hope you have a fair and reasonable boss. Hopefully yours is.

 

[Tia]

policies-

''Change or Status/Shift:

To change status of employement , a request should be given to Department Director/OR Director. Equally qualified in house employees will be given priority for open positions over outside applicants''

 

[geekette]

I live in an At Will state, employers can do most anything they want. But so can employees. I was once fired for using unpaid time off that I was entitled to. Others told me that they would be fired for taking sick days. I was willing to test the policy. they were right! Good riddance to bad environment. You can be the puppeteer or the puppet. employee handbooks generally mean nothing since I usually find a clause about "can change at any time, with or without notice"; no leg to stand on.

I personally would choose this hill to die on. I would make my case up and down the chain and let it be known that loyal employees (like me) will leave. If my time with the company means nothing, that makes leaving really easy. I am not willing to uproot my life to accommodate new employees and should not be jerked around or threatened to do so. Your new cohorts do not at all care about other employees there before them. It could manifest in other ways, too, if they are so vocal so early.

In my line of work, in my city, it's easy for me to get another job quickly. I try to change a place for the better, but when that is not possible, I leave. You have found out that seniority means nothing and need to decide whether you want to continue on in a place that does not have any consideration for how you have arranged your life around your work hours. I get active when Anti-Employee stuff starts, because I will speak out, even when I am not impacted, because I am not scared to lose my job and will speak where others are fearful. Someone in your group may emerge as that crusader, or maybe not.

 

[Big Matt]

Just say that you aren't interested in changing shifts and cite the policy. New boss may not even know there is a policy

 

[wackymother]

Long ago when I worked in the Fotomat lab (I told you it was long ago!), they paid a modest premium to workers on the evening shift, and a pretty solid premium to workers on the lobster shift. That way they did have workers who actually wanted to be on those shifts, bc they made a bit more money to work them.

 

[bogey21]

Unless you have a Union to protect you, I think how you handle the situation comes down to how bad do you need or want the job...

George

 

[Tia]

Unions have become more rare guessing, they served a good purpose in the beginning. Think too they came to be abused and used to protect those who shouldn't be. One place in town will fire anyone who even dreams of union formation secretly.

Unless you have a Union to protect you, I think how you handle the situation comes down to how bad do you need or want the job...

George