Problems with Breastfeeding and the workplace

[gandicor]

If she elects to quit because they have increased her hours and she doesn't want to work them her chances of being approved for unemployment benefits aren't great, either, though she can certainly file a claim. But if she is only available to work part time hours, that may be an issue with unemployment scenarios too. Usually they require eligibility for full time work.

She has been working there for three years full time at 4 days a week. Many nurses work 3 days a week and are full time. She's getting atleast 30 hours a week in her four days and that is the requirements for full time according to her employee handbook. The new administrator is changing the policy specifically for her and to get her to work another day a week.

 

[Zigner]

Barring a valid employment contract or CBA, the employer is allowed to set the schedule as it sees fit.

Did you miss this?

 

[cbg]

For the sake of argument, let's pretend I believe that they are changing the policy and everyone's hours expressly for the purpose of making your wife work an extra day and for no other purpose than to force HER, specifically, to work more hours.

Unless she can provide valid and supportable evidence that will hold up (ultimately) in court that their SOLE reason for doing this is to punish her for needing time to express, you've got nothing you can take legal action for.

 

[gandicor]

Did you miss this?

No, but moving someone from full time with benefits to per diem is not exactly the same as just a shifting their schedule around.

 

[gandicor]

For the sake of argument, let's pretend I believe that they are changing the policy and everyone's hours expressly for the purpose of making your wife work an extra day and for no other purpose than to force HER, specifically, to work more hours.

Unless she can provide valid and supportable evidence that will hold up (ultimately) in court that their SOLE reason for doing this is to punish her for needing time to express, you've got nothing you can take legal action for.

At this point we are worried about whether she will get unemployment or not. They were very careful about avoiding the original issue and it has no evolved into taking her benefits away. I understand that we will not have much of a chance in court since they seem to have found the perfect way to force her out without causing problems for them, but we are looking to know what she should do from this point.

I should also note that she notified to the administrator that one of the surgeons is having an affair with another one of the nurses and they have done nothing about it. It is even rumored that the nurse who is involved in the affair was offered a promotion to the position of director that was recently available due to the surgeon firing the last person. Could this case of nepotism be grounds for a hostile work environment?

 

[Zigner]

I should also note that she notified to the administrator that one of the surgeons is having an affair with another one of the nurses and they have done nothing about it. It is even rumored that the nurse who is involved in the affair was offered a promotion to the position of director that was recently available due to the surgeon firing the last person. Could this case of nepotism be grounds for a hostile work environment?

No, it's not.

 

[Silverplum]

At this point we are worried about whether she will get unemployment or not. They were very careful about avoiding the original issue and it has no evolved into taking her benefits away. I understand that we will not have much of a chance in court since they seem to have found the perfect way to force her out without causing problems for them, but we are looking to know what she should do from this point.

I should also note that she notified to the administrator that one of the surgeons is having an affair with another one of the nurses and they have done nothing about it. It is even rumored that the nurse who is involved in the affair was offered a promotion to the position of director that was recently available due to the surgeon firing the last person. Could this case of nepotism be grounds for a hostile work environment?

You really, really need to stop. You're flailing, and you don't even know what you're discussing.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nepotism = the surgeon was sleeping with his relative.


(Whoops, I forgot: I have sworn off third-party postings.)

 

[gandicor]

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nepotism = the surgeon was sleeping with his relative.


(Whoops, I forgot: I have sworn off third-party postings.)

http://bwlaw.blogs.com/employment_law_bits/2011/02/nepotism-in-the-workplace-is-this-illegal.html

Go through the trouble to copy and paste that link and you might learn something. Please stay out of this thread if you have nothing useful to contribute.

 

[cbg]

First of all, the term, hostile work environment, has a very specific meaning under employment law, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with nepotism.

Secondly, nepotism in the workplace is not illegal 99.9% of the time when it does not involve politics, no matter what some blog says.

Finally, you are making up things to get upset about. All your but-what-if-they's are a waste of energy.

 

[Zigner]

No, but moving someone from full time with benefits to per diem is not exactly the same as just a shifting their schedule around.

It is EXACTLY the same. The EMPLOYER controls the employee's schedule. It's really quite clear.

 

[gandicor]

It is EXACTLY the same. The EMPLOYER controls the employee's schedule. It's really quite clear.

So taking someone's hours from 35 per week to 4 per week is acceptable?

 

[gandicor]

First of all, the term, hostile work environment, has a very specific meaning under employment law, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with nepotism.

Secondly, nepotism in the workplace is not illegal 99.9% of the time when it does not involve politics, no matter what some blog says.

Finally, you are making up things to get upset about. All your but-what-if-they's are a waste of energy.

Ok, so many sexual harassment is the word I am looking for? Sexual favoritism even?

 

[Silverplum]

http://bwlaw.blogs.com/employment_law_bits/2011/02/nepotism-in-the-workplace-is-this-illegal.html

Go through the trouble to copy and paste that link and you might learn something. Please stay out of this thread if you have nothing useful to contribute.

I'm sure I'm quite useful: I taught you the meaning of a word and showed you a dictionary.

 

[commentator]

If your wife's hours have been cut, (not just that they have told her they may do this, or that they are planning to do this, but when it actually has happened,)she needs to file for unemployment insurance at that point. She does not need to quit, resign, obtain permission from the employer to file a claim or anything else. She will just file for benefits, telling the unemployment system that she has been working 30 hours per week, and now her hours have been cut. They will look at how much she has made in a Sunday through Saturday week, regardless of how she works or when she is paid or how she is paid. Any time she is working all the hours that are available to her in a Sunday through Saturday week, and yet she is making less in gross wages than she would be able to draw for a week of filing for unemployment insurance, she will be entitled to partial unemployment benefits. They (the unemployment system) will explain exactly how it will work.

If she is formally informed by her manager that she will from now on be working 4 hours a week, with no benefits, she needs to tell them no thank you, and officially quit the job and file at once for unemployment insurance and tell them exactly what was told to her by the employer, how her hours are being cut and her insurance benefits taken away. This is "forcing a quit" and she will have a much better chance to draw unemployment insurance if this happens. If they say, work the new extended hours or you are fired, same thing, she needs to file for unemployment insurance immediately.

However, YOU stay out of it, she will need to file her own claim and speak for herself, and by no means does she bring up to the unemployment system that she feels she has been singled out because of the milk expression situation, or because she reported the nepotism (not illegal by any means here) or anything else like this. Unemployment deals with the reason why you are no longer working, whether or not you are out of work through no fault of your own. It is NOT the system under which people find justice for mistreatment they believe they have experienced due to EEOC or ADA or whistleblower or any other sort of protections or issues of this type. To try to bring in these issues will simply muddy up the unemployment situation.

 

[Just Blue]

Here is an update, which is basically a new scenario and a new problem. They have been running the facility short staffed and although they are interviewing new nurses they have not hired anyone recently despite firing quite a few. They are trying to get my wife to work one more day per week, which would move her from 4 to 5 days per week. This is not an option for her, and she was actually hired for part time 3 days a week and then offered full time at four days a week. Since the facility all of a sudden needs more nurses, they are changing the requirements of full time nurses and saying that she either needs to work 5 days in a week or go per diem.

5 days a week just is not an option for here. Can they make her go per diem? I don't understand why, if they need more employees, would they put her on per diem? It is my opinion that they want to create a hostile work environment so that all of the current nursing staff quits and so they can hire new people. Regardless, shouldn't they offer to put her back to part time at 3 days per week instead of offering only full time or per diem?

We are most worried that they will make her go per diem and then offer no hours. If they are simply offering per diem as a way to remove her health benefits, than I guess we can deal with that, but if they put her on per diem and give her no hours and hope that she leaves, is that legal?

Is your wife unable to deal with her own issues?