It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…
1. I’ve been accused of abusing sick leave when I have coronavirus symptoms
I work as a lab tech for a hospital that employees tens of thousands of people and I’m essential and cannot work from home. I experienced shortness of breath a while back so I immediately called off work. Shortly after, I developed a fever. I managed to get a test, but it’s been 10 days and I haven’t gotten the results yet! So I have not left my house and I have not gone into work.
I’ve been texted by my boss’s boss telling me other people have gotten results back faster, accusing me of not actually having gotten tested (I’ve already provided a doctor’s note), and telling me I should just come back. I won’t, until I get the test results or it’s been 14 days. This situation, not seeing anyone, being sick, and being harassed by superiors at work in the midst of a global pandemic, has me incredibly stressed. I want to be at work, but I also want to make the best choices to keep everyone as safe as possible.
I do plan on screenshotting the texts she sent me and forwarding them to HR. Imagine if I came back in and then tested positive the next day. My whole team would have to be quarantined and we’d be putting lives at risk.
Am I protected under the new law because I’m seeking a diagnosis? If she were to fire me, could I collect unemployment? I don’t think that will happen but this is the person who is responsible for our team’s 80 percent turn over.
Infuriatingly, the new paid sick leave law only protects workers at companies with fewer than 500 employees. Otherwise, it would indeed have covered you. However, you’re covered under the Family and Medical Leave Act (which pre-existed this crisis); it doesn’t require them to pay you for the time off (although you can use any accrued vacation or sick leave you have), but it does protect your job for up to three months. They cannot fire you for using FMLA.
Definitely contact HR immediately, report what’s been going on, say you’ve been pressured to return to work despite having COVID symptoms, ask for their help, and ask if you should formally file for FMLA.
Here’s hoping your boss’s boss gets a serious chewing out.
2. How to respond to “joking” age and weight comments
I’m a manager with several supervisors under me. A supervisor was “teased” by one subordinate for being overweight and by a different one for being “old.” Prior to these comments, the supervisor told me that she’s watching what she eats and is losing weight. Based on our conversations, she appears to be uncomfortable with how she looks. She’s about my age and although she laughed at the comments made by the two employees, I am not okay with this. Should I say something to them, or address the entire office to let them know that comments about size and age are inappropriate? I have no problem saying something, but I want to choose my words carefully so I don’t go off on anyone.
Do three things: (1) Talk to the two employees who made the comments and tell them that comments on people’s age or physical appearance aren’t okay, even in jest — they’re not only unkind, but in some cases they can create legal liability for the company. If they get it immediately, great. If they don’t, make it clear you won’t tolerate those comments again. (2) Coach the supervisor (and maybe all the supervisors) about how to handle these sorts of comments in the future, arming them with specific language they can use to shut it down. (For example, “Even if you’re joking around, we don’t comment on people’s ages or appearances here.”) Emphasize that they need to shut this stuff down even if they’re not personally offended, because other people might not be and it needs to be clear that the comments aren’t okay, period. (3) Consider whether there’s a wider issue on your team that needs to be addressed — were these comments flukes or do people need some training in what is and isn’t okay at work?
3. Can I even take time off now?
I’ve been employed at my current job for almost a year. It can be demanding at times, and my experience there has been generally unhappy; disorganization and confusion tend to run the show.
One way this manifests is through our vacation policy—we have unlimited paid time off, but I’ve run into the common pitfalls that come with unlimited PTO, in that because there are no rules, I’m never really comfortable asking for extended time off. As a result, in the past year I’ve only taken two consecutive days off twice (I’m aware that even this kind of time is a luxury for some people, so I don’t want to appear ungrateful!).
I am completely burnt out. The past year has been a difficult one both professionally and personally. I’ve been dealing with some scary health concerns that I haven’t yet felt comfortable to explain to my boss, and it’s taking a toll on my mental health, as is my anxiety over the pandemic. I’d intended to take a break in January, but due to some big deadlines, I decided to push that back to March. Just as I was about to plan a week away, I got put on a huge, time-consuming project with tight deadlines, and then COVID-19 hit.
Now that I’m working from home full-time and can’t travel anywhere, I’m feeling like I’d be letting my small team down if I asked for even a few days off, because my boss knows that all I’d be doing is sitting at home. Even if he was cool with it, I’m wondering if I’d be able to unwind under the current circumstances! I fear that I’ll be in my house trying to relax, with no way to escape thoughts of looming deadlines and work that I could be easily taking care of instead of doing nothing.
I live in a state that’s been very hard hit by the virus, so I imagine I’ll be working from home for at least the next couple months, if not longer. I can’t imagine just continuing to push through this for that long. Do you think it’s fair for me to request a vacation during this weird, busy time, and if so, how do I even allow myself to relax?
Yes, take a few days off! The exception to this would be if you’re in the middle of an unusually big push to finish something, in which case the request could sound tone-deaf. But if it’s more that things are always busy and there’s never been a good time to go (which is the case for a lot of jobs), you just have to carve out the time and do it.
Frame it this way: “I’d been planning to schedule a vacation right before this all hit. Obviously I can’t go anywhere now, but I could really use a short break to recharge. Is there a time that would be particularly good or particularly bad for me to schedule a few days off in the coming month?” Or instead of asking, figure out on your own when the lowest-impact time to take would be, and then say, “My plan is to take the 20th-22nd to try to recharge, once the bulk of the work on X is behind me. Do those days work on your end?”
4. My boss didn’t hire my intern full-time and she’ll be devastated
My boss is very busy, so she makes all the decisions but doesn’t do day-to-day supervision. This means that I’ve been supervising our department’s intern over the past year, but had no say at all when my boss chose to hire someone else for a full-time position.
I still have to supervise this intern for three months, and she’ll be sharing an office with the new hire. She’ll be devastated about not getting the job. How can I manage this situation?
She’ll be required to turn over her desk to the new hire, but the duties are pretty separate and she won’t be training them or doing any knowledge or task handover. Also, for what it’s worth, I think my boss made the right decision in not hiring her.
What are the reasons you and your boss both felt she wasn’t right for the job? That’s how you explain it to her. It definitely can be demoralizing not to get a promotion you wanted — but it’s so much worse when no one explains why. Talk to her and let her know what factors went into the decision and where she can focus on developing to better position herself for jobs in the future.
Sharing an office with the person who got the job you wanted can be awkward, but it’s the kind of thing that’s most awkward in the beginning and usually goes away pretty quickly once you get to know them as an actual person and not just The Person My Company Thought Was Better Than Me. (It can also sometimes be instructive, if she’s able to see for herself why the person was a stronger match for the job.)
5. Can my employer switch me from salaried to hourly during coronavirus?
I work for a nonprofit. During this corona crisis, many of our events are cancelled. Today they decided to move me from salaried to hourly so they can pay me half my regular salary. I will only be expected to work half the hours. When the crisis ends, they intend to move me back to being salaried. I currently work a lot of overtime, but because I’m exempt, don’t get paid for it. Is it legal for them to now switch me to hourly temporarily? I thought that in exchange for not getting paid overtime, I was supposed to get be guaranteed a stable income. If it matters, I make around $38,000 a year and manage two part-time employees.
They can indeed switch you to hourly, as long as it’s not just short-term (like for a few weeks, which would be seen as an attempt to circumvent the salary requirements for exempt workers). They need to ensure that your new hourly wage doesn’t take you below minimum wage, but they’re allowed to change the terms of your employment as long as it’s not retroactive.
However, if they’re paying you on an hourly basis and not a salaried basis (meaning that they will lower your pay in weeks where you work fewer hours), then you are no longer exempt; you are non-exempt and thus would need to receive overtime pay (time and a half) for any hours over 40 that you work in a week. It sounds like you might not be working 40+ hours a week right now, but make sure you’re tracking your hours carefully, getting paid for all of them, and getting overtime if that does happen.
(Also, know that the threshold for overtime pay stays at 40 hours even though you’re part-time. If you’re now scheduled for 20 hours a week and you work 22 hours, that won’t trigger overtime pay; you’ve still got to go above 40 for that to happen.)
I’ve been accused of abusing sick leave when I have coronavirus symptoms, joking about age and weight, and more was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.
from Ask a Manager https://ift.tt/3aEUMTE
0 Comments