Mandatory overtime????????

[Hisbabygirl77]

What is the name of your state?AZ
I am asking this question for a friend of mine. She has two children one of which is a special needs child and because of such she only has two people which she can ask to babysit in a pinch as they know how to take care of this child. The daycare she uses also knows how to take care of her needs but are only open Monday-Friday.

She made sure to take a job where her hours are Mon-Fri 8-5 so that she would have a daycare to take care of her children. Well she received an email from her employer stating that for the last 3 saturdays in this month her department would be required to work mandatory overtime 8-5. She is unable to do this two of those Saturdays as she does not have a sitter. Can they fire her for this? Her work knows about her child she told them from the date of hire that she was only able to work those hours.

She has tried finding a way to be at work even asking some of the daycare teachers if she could hire them personally for the day but they were not able to do so. If they do fire her then I told her I think she would qualify for unemployment until she can find another job. Is this correct? She is a single mom and lives paycheck to paycheck.

 

[CheeseBlotto]

What about family or friends? Can't they take care of the little whelp a couple of times?

 

[Hisbabygirl77]

The two that can take care of her are family. Her friends do not know how to take care of her special needs. For one of the saturdays her ex mother in law is able to take care of the children but she is going to be gone the last two weekends on a cruise. The other set of grandparents both work on Saturdays so they are unable to care for her child those days. My friend is very stressed out about this and if finding someone to watch her children were possible she would do it trust me. She has been with this company for over two years and loves her job. Sadly, she now has a new boss who is not understanding about her circumstances. Her coworkers have even spoken to the boss stating that it was not necessary to have her there and they would be able to get everything done without her trying to help her out. This new boss does not care. She is still trying to figure out something but in the meantime I am trying to find out if legally the will be able to fire her if nothing comes of the baby-sitting hunt. Also, if they do fire her if she will qualify for unemployment until she can find another job.

 

[Hisbabygirl77]

Anyone??????????????

 

[Beth3]

Yes, they can fire her if she's unable to work the third Saturday. If she's been a good and reliable employee, that would be a dumb decision on their part but it wouldn't be unlawful. Additionally, employers don't often terminate someone for a single instance of absenteeism.

Your friend's best option is to inform her employer of her dilemma and hope they will be understanding. Her worst option is just not to show up that day.

 

[Hisbabygirl77]

Thank you for responding....Today she informed her employer in writing that she would not be able to be there on that Saturday. Hopefully the will be understanding but her new boss is kind of doing the whole make an example of people thing. She doesn't like it when people doesnt do what she says.