Is this legit?

[Tiberius Jim]

I know this will probably be followed by a flurry of "If you don't like it, quit" posts, so I will preface my post with this: I plan on it, but need to finish up these last 9 weeks of school before I have graduated college and will be able to get myself a real career going. Until then, I'm forced to deal with the job I have now, seeing as few companies would want to hire a guy who will be seeking other employment in 3 months.

Here's the deal. The company I work for is predominately an consumer electronics retailer. They're famous for selling products like batteries, resistors, surge protectors and of course, remote controlled cars. They also like to think of themselves as a cell phone retailer. We can do new activations and equipment upgrades for a couple of the major mobile providers. This has been the company's big focus lately, as it apparently makes them the most money.

Because of this focus, they've been paying close attention to how many phones a store sells. They're all given goals and each week they're supposed to meet these goals. It's all pretty standard retail business that I've dealt with for almost 5 years now.

However, the brilliant mind of our District Manager has come up with this plan to more or less punish...er, I mean train and educate...those stores that do not meet their goals. How does she plan to do this?

By choosing a store in the district, and telling every store not meeting goals that they all must be at said store by 7:00 in the morning.

The store chosen for the meeting is an hour and a half away. The duration of this meeting? One hour. That's right. I'm being forced to drive nearly three hours round trip in order to make it to a one hour training session that I don't even need. And then I get to go home...and then drive half an hour *back* to my store to work my actual scheduled shift.

Oh, and this meeting will take place every Saturday. Same time, same place. And if my store doesn't have enough traffic in my store to pull out the numbers we need, we go back. Oh and did I mention that ALL employees at a given store must meet their numbers? So even if I sell my ass off but the other guys slack off, we have to go again.

I'm sure it's not, but shouldn't this be some sort of illegal? When I signed up to work for this company I was never agreeing to travel like this. I was told I would work at Store A, and might be asked to work at Store B or C on occasion, but now they're *making* me go out to Store Z.

At 7:00am.

For an hour.



Part of me wants to find a way to get fired and just go on unemployment for the next 3 months...

 

[RoJoHen]

That sounds absolutely retarded. I'm not sure it's illegal, but I would do all I can to try and get out of it. Or hell, just don't show up.

 

[RoJoHen]

Bah! Silly downtime making me double post...

 

[Tiberius Jim]

That sounds absolutely retarded. I'm not sure it's illegal, but I would do all I can to try and get out of it. Or hell, just don't show up.

But *gasp* I'll be...be..written up!

Actually, what's really fucked up is this. The logical means of us all getting there is a carpool. However, none of the other 3 people I work with have reliable transportation. Hell, my manager doesn't even have a car. The other two have cars that can only be described as "rolling death traps" and seeing as mine is all shiny and new, guess who is the logical choice.

I really am considering just...not going. Go ahead, write me up. If all goes well, it won't mean shit in 3 months.

I am curious...if my refusal to attend this crap ended up with my being fired...would that not be grounds for a wrongful termination suit?

 

[RoJoHen]

I'm assuming you can't be fired for just one write-up. I honestly don't know a whole lot about how that stuff works. Ultimately, it probably depends on how much your store manager wants you working there.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

It's a lousy thing to do, but I doubt there's anything illegal about it, unless the extra hour on top of your normal working hours constitutes overtime and they're not paying you for it.

I'd refuse to go and take the write-up unless they offered to reimburse you for gas and travel time, using your (presumably good) sales record to stand on if they push the issue. As it stands the back and forth travel is probably eating into a not-insignificant chunk of your pay from the sound of it.

 

[RoJoHen]

^Good point. Are they paying you to attend this meeting?

 

[P0sitr0nic]

Just tell em your car wouldnt start.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

There's a term called "constructive termination" where an employer suddenly places unreasonable demands on you in the hope you'll quit. Depending on your location, this may be illegal. You should ask your local labor authorities about it.

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

There is also something there that I am curious about; do you have a job lined up after you graduate from college?

 

[backstept]

you should absolutely be paid for mileage and travel time

 

[Data Holmes]

You work for Radio Shack? Because that sounds like the shit they used to pull when I worked there.

 

[Tiberius Jim]

^ Yeah. As far as reimbursement goes, they say that they will, but it's always some bullshit "$.10 per mile" rate that never ends up giving you the real amount of gas used. It's not even just the gas...my car is brand new, and I'd like to keep it that way for as long as possible and not put unnecessary miles on it. As for being paid while actually at the meeting, I assume we will be...but it won't amount to much...it's only one effing hour!

I don't have a job lined up after school yet, but my school has an excellent career services department that works with students up to 6 months after graduation to find a job.

 

[Professor Zoom]

I would check about that reimbursement for mileage, it sounds very low.

But to answer your question: I don't it's illegal. I would imagine there's something about mandatory meetings in your employee handbook...a company that large should have employee handbooks.

You should, obviously, be paid.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

As for being paid while actually at the meeting, I assume we will be...but it won't amount to much...it's only one effing hour!

What I meant was, if you work full time (either eight hours in a day or 40 hours per week), and this meeting is in addition to your normal full-time work schedule for the day or week, are they paying you the time & 1/2 minimum mandated by California law for working overtime?

If they're trying to get out of that by saying it's not counted in addition to normal working hours, then that may in fact be illegal and should be reported. Otherwise, I don't see anything particularly illegal about what they're doing, just exceptional dickishness.

 

[ThunderAeroI]

Having worked for the Tandy corporation in that past (Computer City), I'd find the nearest escape hole and jump. Just do something idiot and get canned, collect unemployment and get a new college job.

Seriously, I don't think any one employer will care about your termination from Radio Shack while in college. Although it would raise some question about your loyalty to the next compnay should they be pulling crap like that too.


They should be paying you to travel to that location as well. Consider the cost:

a three hour trip, plus an hour meeting. Thats four additional hours of pay every week. If your already working 35 hours a week you will be guenteed an option for health Insurance and you will get overtime to boot if the total amount of hours worked for that week is over 40.

I don't know any employer in my city who would dream of pulling this crap, especially once they considered the cost they will encure when they start to have to pay into the heath insurence pot.

 

[Tiberius Jim]

Nope, I wouldn't be going over 40 hours, and my shift that day is only 7 hours...so they just barely keep me from going overtime.

 

[ThunderAeroI]

Nope, I wouldn't be going over 40 hours, and my shift that day is only 7 hours...so they just barely keep me from going overtime.

The day is irrelevent. What matters is the week total. I recall working 16 hour days in my life time and they would chop my time off on wednesday just to ensure I didn't go over 40 hours that week.

 

[Timby]

California is an at-will employment state. You wouldn't really have any legal grounds if you were terminated for failing to go to that meeting.

 

[Vulcan Princess]

I'll start with the standard disclaimer that I'm not a lawyer yet, so this isn't meant to be legal advice. If you want legal advice, contact an attorney.

That said, I do work in HR. I hate to break it to you, but there's nothing illegal about the company scheduling mandatory meetings like this. It's rude, it's a poor business decision, but it's legal. You should be reimbursed for your mileage, and in some states, if travel time for business meetings takes place during the workday, you should be paid for that time as well. (I'm not sure what the law is in CA. All the employees at my company are salaried.) If you don't go to the meetings, it's grounds for termination, and it's unlikely that you'll be able to get unemployment. (Not impossible, but unlikely.)

Does your company have an HR person you can talk to and discuss your concerns confidentially (politely, of course)? That might be a good first step. HR people aren't always meanies.