Threatening to take my health benefits away or fire me

[geopalm01]

Is this legal? I live in Florida.

I was hired full time and allowed to pick my schedule. My days have always been Sunday - Thursday, evenings. I was allowed to have Friday and Saturday off, and they agreed to employee me on those terms. Due to medical issues, I require a second job, sometimes I pick up a third job. I do those jobs on Fridays and Saturdays. My employer came to me and threatened to demote me to part time effective immediately, mentioning me losing my health benefits (because they know how much I desperately need them for my knee injury) if I did not agree to have open availability on Friday and Saturday, OR they would have to find someone else. I said that isn’t possible for me because I NEED a second job to afford my bills and I can’t change my availability with the other job. They mentally harassed me to the point where I said, “fine, I’ll work it” because I have no choice with my medical conditions. I soon got an email from my manager, which I did not see until last minute, asking for a confirmation of me working those days. Then, I got an email from HR, stating since I haven’t communicated to them if I will agree to their terms, they are forced to demote me to part time and I will lose all benefit eligibility, and that it would be effective 3 days from the email. I replied back saying I DID agree in person to their terms. I feel as if I was threatened to change my second job around them or else they would take my health benefits away from me that I am relying on, even though those were not the days they agreed to when they decided to hire me.

 

[Taxing Matters]

I feel as if I was threatened to change my second job around them or else they would take my health benefits away from me that I am relying on, even though those were not the days they agreed to when they decided to hire me.

Unfortunately the employer may legally reduce your hours for any reason other than illegal discrimination, i.e. the employer could not reduce the hours because of you race, color, national origin, citizenship, age (if you are least age 40), sex, religion, disability, or genetic test information. So if the employer reduces your hours because you are unavailable to work on Fridays and Saturdays if needed, that is legal. And if the reduction in hours causes you to lose company provided health benefits, that too is legal. If you can't make ends meet with this job without working a second job on Friday and Saturday then you probably want to start looking for a new job that will better meet your needs, either with more pay & benefits and/or truly fixed work days hours so you can have another job without a conflict.

 

[xylene]

Medical reasons don't require you to have a second job. Those are financial issues.

 

[Zigner]

To be clear: Absent a legally binding contract, the employer is allowed to adjust your schedule to meet its own needs.