Pressured for money

[dlr1962]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? I am in Georgia. This is the closest forum I could find for this situation. My supervisor called me into his office and asked me to pay his delinquent electric bill. The total was $555 dollars. His exact words to me were " I want you to take care of this". My job was never threatened explicitly but I could not help but wonder what the consequences would be if I refused. I ended up paying the bill for him. He has repaid about the half the money but has shown no sign of repaying the rest. This person has used his position similarly with others. He asked a couple of employees to help him move and after they worked all weekend he gave them something like $20 each. There are other instances as well. What sort of recourse do I have in a case like this? Is there a state office this could be reported to? What are the obligations/responsibilities of my employer in this case?

 

[pattytx]

I never would have done that, not ever, but that horse escaped the barn already. Do you have anything in writing where he promises to pay you back? Is there an HR person you can discuss this with? A supervisor who is "asking" his employees to pay his bills or lend him money is not a supervisor I would want in MY company.

 

[eerelations]

This is interesting - would it be a legal termination if an employee was fired for refusing to pay his supervisor's electric bill?

 

[pattytx]

Legal? Probably. Criminal, as in "coercion", maybe. Eligible for UI? Almost absolutely.

Don't you love how certain I am?

 

[eerelations]

It certainly wouldn't be legal in Canada...but then as we all know, Canadian employment law is very different from US employment law, at least in some areas (like this one).