Placed on Probation

[Poster1]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Utah

Not really a firing situation but close. I work for a company out of my home and we've been short one employee for the past year. They made an offer to someone about 9 months ago and then waited 3 months for him to decline. After that they just stopped looking for anyone. After picking up the slack for 6 or 7 month from being down a person I decided that it was no longer healthy for me to work nights and weekend. I limited my work to 5 days a week and to 9 hours a day. Over the past 3 months I've fall behind in work as the work load increased greatly during that time. My manager knew this as she had been reviewing my work. She did not bring up any issues. I was hired 2 years ago as the company was in this very same situation... they had been down 2 adjusters for about a year (one person quit as he was fed up). When I was hired it the company was still down a person and it was busy. The manager at that time over-looked that we were behind because he knew we were short handed. I figured the same thing was truth this time around. Last week my manager went off and said she'd be reviewing my work. She mentioned that my work was being reviewed and I might be placed in "probation". What this means is that I'd not be eligible for a raise this year and I'd loose my bonus. Both of these are evaluated in November.

My issue is that I think this is unfair. I don't think they should use the same guidelines for work being done if 1) they are short staffed and 2) No one mentioned that being behind in work was an issue. I'm not against doing extra work when its required but each and every day for the past year? We keep being told that they they understand we are short a person and "thanks" for taking the extra work but all of this is ignored when the work does not get done.

If they put me on probation I really feel that I'd need to file a grievance. But I also now that these usually fall on deaf ears and then I'm going to look like a trouble maker. Frankly, I don't care much about what they'd be doing other then I can't afford to loose my pay raise and bonus. Any one have any idea what the best way to handle this situation would be? I've always thought HR people are the worst to deal with as they are in place to protect the company. Would I contact HR? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[pattytx]

Unfair? Sounds like it.

Illegal? No.

File a grievance? That term is normally used in a union environment; ARE you covered by a CBA?

Sometimes HR is the employee advocate; sometimes HR is the employer advocate. But simplistically, one of the primary purposes of HR is to make sure the laws are followed so the employer doesn't get sued. How managers manage their employees is not normally an HR issue unless some law is being broken. Having said that, you can certainly ask to speak with HR about what you see as unfairness in these policies; however HR very likely has no power to change them; that would have to come from up much higher.

 

[commentator]

It sounds as though, with the working out of your home situation, you're probably not covered by a union. And if not, there's no grievance. The only thing you can do is try to resolve the situation. If you don't receive your pay raise and bonus in November, what are you going to do? You were quite wise to self limit on your hours, since they probably wouldn't object to your working lots more hours, uncompensated and unappreciated it sounds like. It seems they've found one good mule (you) and they've not had much luck finding others like you, so they've decided to work you to death.

If you speak with your supervisor, and get no satisfaction, then I would speak with HR, and let them know that you have adjusted your work load till it is manageable, that you are working x number of hours, and x number of days, and you have been able to do this amount of work. If this is not appropriate, and they expect you to do x amount of work more, which you do not believe is possible.....you do not feel this is reasonable and would like them to look at this. Your only real threat is that you will resign.

"File a grievance" isn't going to scare them. Because there is no one to complain to. There's certainly no labor law that covers being treated unfairly in general. But the threat of losing their one person might stimulate them to do better. If you quit without notice, they can't file a grievance against you, either.

 

[Poster1]

No union. From my experience with HR, I don't think they are the way to go. I'll have to figure out who to speak to. I'm guessing it's going to be someone high up in my area. I just know this is not going to be pretty. But it's several thousands of dollars that I can't do without.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

it's several thousands of dollars that I can't do without.

If you truly can't afford to do without, you can go back to working nights and weekends.

 

[commentator]

If you have not gone through the channels to get this resolved and you call the president of the company or whoever else high up in your area of the company to complain,they are going to blow you off, because you have not tried to resolve this through the appropriate departments. You will be bounced back to HR, I'd bet on it. As we have said, there is nobody you can file a grievance to and get the company as a whole in trouble. Why would they want to get involved?

The company big-wigs do not involve themselves in employee issues like who gets a bonus and who is overscheduled or understaffed. That is why they have managers and an HR department.

 

[cbg]

Here's something for you to consider.

Unless you have a legally binding and enforceable contract or CBA that specifically says otherwise, all you are entitled to by law, if you are non-exempt, is the higher of state or Federal minimum wage for every hour that you work, and overtime at the rate of time and a half for every hour over 40. In your state, state and Federal minimum wage are the same, $7.25 per hour. If you are exempt, all you are entitled to by law is $455 per week unless state law sets a higher rate - your state does not.

So if you are exempt and are getting $455 per week, or if you are non-exempt and are getting $7.25 per hour and appropriate overtime, that is all the the law requires. The law does not care what duties you are performing or how many extra duties you have taken on or how short staffed you are. If you are being paid as I have indicated, the law is satisfied and you have no legal leverage to force your employer to pay more.

I'm not saying it's fair. I'm not saying don't try. I'm not saying you have no chance. I'm saying that you need to base any claim you make with your employer on something more than "it's unfair", or "I can't afford not to get the raise and bonus" because neither of those reasons cuts any ice.

Before you go the route you're proposing, I would suggest that you work up some real figures on your value to the company. How much money have you saved them? What kind of procedures have you set in place that has saved them time, money, or production costs? What clients have you saved for them? Think along these lines.

THEN, AFTER you've done that, see if you can get an idea of what the market value of your job is. I don't normally recommend using a site called salary.com because it tends to be inaccurate, but in my experience it tends to be inaccurate in an inflationary sense so that can only help you. There are other sites as well that can give you an idea.

THEN you've got something substantial to take to HR, and yes, you do need to go to HR if your direct supervisor can't help you. HR may not be the one who can make the final decision, but if you make a good case HR can and will act as your advocate.

 

[Poster1]

Before you go the route you're proposing, I would suggest that you work up some real figures on your value to the company. How much money have you saved them? What kind of procedures have you set in place that has saved them time, money, or production costs? What clients have you saved for them? Think along these lines.

THEN, AFTER you've done that, see if you can get an idea of what the market value of your job is. I don't normally recommend using a site called salary.com because it tends to be inaccurate, but in my experience it tends to be inaccurate in an inflationary sense so that can only help you. There are other sites as well that can give you an idea.

Good info. I've gone the route of minimum wage before... I used to live in FL and employers are notorious for considering employees exempt when their jobs don't really qualify (it's up the employer to comply but the DOL never really checks unless an employee complains).

My employer pays well and I'm very thankful to have a job... I just don't think I should be penalized for a staffing issue. Part of the problem is the guy who is in charge of hiring people. He drug his feet with the prior hirings and this is when people quit because of the work load. They can bitch at me all they want, write up all the bad reviews they want... but when they start taking away my money because of a staffing issue, I have a problem with that.

I've looked at salary.com and other sites. They are paying me the correct wage for the general position but in my case, I have a lot more responsibilities then the general description of the job. I also work from home and while it has it's perks, it cost me time and money and saves the company thousands of dollars ever year.

If my manager would have simply told me I need to get caught up or else, I would have done it... as I did. I would not have liked it but I'm not against sucking it up and bending over once in while. My manager could also have worked with us to get the workload down. As it was, she did nothing.

They have not said anything yet but I expect them to do something in the next few weeks. I can't really complain until they take action. I also know once a company does something it's more difficult to get them to change their minds. I'm just wondering if I should bite the bullet and take what they dish out.

 

[Poster1]

Well today I met with my manager. We went over my review (they don't publish any information on how the manager arrives at the information in the review and there is no opportunity or mechanism in place for the employee to respond). As I suspected the review was terrible. I could live with that. But then she announced that she was placing me on "probation". As mentioned, I suspected this was going to happen. I mentioned that it was really due to a staffing issue, that I agreed I was certainly not the best employee and could improve but that I thought it was unfair that the company was not taking _any_ responsibility for my current situation. I pointed out that I only fell behind when the work load greatly increases and that after months and months of a huge workload I decided that I needed to take actions to protect my health. I pointed out that I limited my work hours to about 9/day and gave it 100% when I was working. But if something did not get done within those 9 hours, it did not get done. I work from my home. I explained that I needed to place boundaries on my work hours in order to divide my person life and work time. I had found that mixing the two so much caused me to be negative and this affected my adversely. To that I just got silence. She then did her best to skip around the topic and just give generic replies, really just indicating that what was done was done and nothing was going to change it. But I did learn that I don't lose all my bonus and raise, only 50% of them. Well, life is not fair so I think I can live with that. Granted, I think I'm underpaid for the job that I do now but I do get paid well and I do have a job. For that I'm thankful. Like I said, it's important to me to remain positive. To see this as the glass 1/2 full, I'm betting that the bonus this year is going to be an all time low. So perhaps I'll be loosing 1/2 of very little. I suspect raises to be the same. I'm told that this probation could last as little as 60 days. I think I can shine for 60 days with little problems. Without saying too much, my job is to pay money to settle situations. I just plan on throwing as much money as needed to make these things go away asap. If they are over-paid, so be it.

I had a good long talk with my manager and I think she saw my point. She could not come out and agree with it and it did not matter what I said but I felt better having saying what was on my mind. I think I did it in a professional manner and I think it was obvious that my points were valid. I knew going into this that no matter what I did or how correct I was, that it would not change a thing. I really just wanted to speak my mind. I did that, I'm hoping I gave my manager something to thing about and I can live with the outcome.

 

[Zigner]

You should quit. That would show them!

 

[Poster1]

You should quit. That would show them!

Hey, I never said it was not a good job. As I mentioned, I get paid well and in todays climate, I'm happy to have a job.