Son Of Boss, and Salary hijinks....

These guys kill me....I am starting to hate small family owned business...heres the lowdown:

I work for a small company for a set salary of $xxxxx.xx. No overtime is paid for working over 40 hours.

Normal time off/vacation is this: 2 weeks vacation, and 4 days personal/sick time.

I have missed 8 days this year so far...3 for when my mother was in the hospital having major surgery, and 5 for my dads funeral, 1500 miles away. I took one other day cause I was pretty sick.

I didnt think anything about it, till today. Son of Boss walks into my office, with a sheet in hand...says if I miss anymore time, it will be without pay. HE says they are "giving" me the 4 days I went over (personal days). I was shocked, to be blunt.

so, now if I miss a day, for whatever reason, Im no longer making the agreed upon salary for a year....this seems wrong to me...

I am a good employee, work at least 1/2 hour over each day, sometimes longer...I am on the road running errands and getting supplies/talking with vendors, and dont charge for gas or anything like that...I give my all and then some for the company (SOB even said he was happy with what I was doing).

So, am I wrong to feel slighted??...is it out of line to expect a few extra days with no penalty to bury your father??..What do you think??...

Reply to
CDignition
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I agree.

Hirings are increasing it is time to find a new job. Working here in the U.S. is turning into turn of the century work again!!

Me

Reply to
News

I am not that familiar with employment laws, etc. but funeral leave is usually considered a special case and handled separately from vacation and sick leave.

Can anyone offer further detail pertaining to this?

Reply to
John Eric Voltin

The whole point to being on salary is so the company doesn't have to pay you the overtime for all the extra stuff you do. Basically they get more work out of your for less pay. Of course, normally this means that you don't have to clock in/out for lunch, are afforded a little leeway when it comes to being in your seat at 8am sharp, things like this.

If they are going to nit-pick your hours now, then give them the solid 40hr work week they are paying you for and stop doing all the extra little things. It's hard to say to deny them things (like not charging for milage) due to them being a small company though... so perhaps the best thing to do is to move on to greener pastures.

I think you are perfectly normal for feeling slighted. Extra days for a death in the family should be a given at any company that cares for their employees.

Reply to
Ray Reynolds

Republicans ..... it's the NEW plan to make you more productive.

Reply to
Cliff Huprich

ah, yes, yet another example of clueless regressive management. It will never go away.

I think the other guy is right, though: bereavement time is typically separate from sick time (and typically 3 days allowed). Unless your companies Personnel Policies are so out of date that they treat you the way they did.

It's hard not to take it personnally (it's clear that you did), but maybe this is an opportunity to educate that idiot about how to motivate and retain his employees. Assuming you ARE the perfect model employee that you say you are, and if you think he's approachable, then perhaps you can eliminate all of your emotion from this situation and then go to him and have a man-to-man. Explain how you've done a good job, have the performance reviews and references to prove it, and how this latest episode disappointed you because of the company's failure to be as flexible with you as you have been with them. You've had some difficult personal times in the last year and blah blah blah. Try to get him to empathize, and then try to get him to see that in his effort to enforce the letter of the law he's killed your morale and motivation. Talk. Discuss. Seek common ground. You're both mature professional adults, it doesn't have to be a p*ssing contest.

Poor B*stard probably doesn't have any idea what a truly stupid thing he's done. And the company suffers for it. He can't take the blame, after all because he's the boss' son...so they must blame the employees, right? Or he's trying to impress his Daddy the Dinosaur by being tough on employees? Who knows what motivates Neandertals like that?

If you can make him open his eyes, then maybe you can address the issue of their Byzantine time-off policy and be the hero of all the other employees.

If you try to bully, threaten, or make it personal, you've lost. Don't even go there.

Working for a company is like marriage...it ALL depends on "The Big C"...Communication. Who knows? You may create something amazing with the attempt to reconcile one-on-one (it's worked amazingly well for me in the past). But if nothing comes of it, then by all means move on as fast as you can...it's not a company for whom you want to work. But above all else be gentlemanly about it.

Moe&TheBoys, but I'm_Curly_Today

Reply to
Moe_Larry_Curly

What's wrong with this picture? I do the math, and you haven't even used up all of your vacation time yet!

Was "Son of Boss" only referring to your personal/sick time, or is your vacation time rescinded? You need to get clarification on that point. If it's not w.r.t. vacation time, they are actually being fair on this point. Perhaps you weren't clear when you took your time off whether you wanted to take vacation days for that time.

I'm facing some ailing parent issues that will require me to take time off. I went to our HR guy (we have one here) to get details about company policy, etc. HR's answer was simple boilerplate: in the U.S., there is the "Family and Medical Leave act of 1993" which details employer and employee rights and responsibilities when family health issues require leave from work. There are even standard forms to be endorsed by doctors if necessary. Whenever you need to leave work for a family emergency, get the forms and get them endorsed, even if your employer doesn't require them.

Your employer is not required to grant paid leave. They must grant unpaid leave within reason. If you got 4 days free (not counting against vacation) you are getting a fair deal.

Reply to
TheTick

Tick is right if they gave 4 extra days of paid personal time, and you still have your 2 wks vacation left that is a fair deal. You had better be sure that you still have your agreed upon vacation time before you get too hot about the issue. For a death in the family you are allowed unpaid leave by law and it seems your employer gave you extra paid leave for the occation. That would mean that they have gone over and above the contract already.

Corey

Reply to
Corey Scheich

I think you guys are missing the point here.

The fact that his employer actually brought it up just shows they didn't want to pay him while he was burying his father, but couldn't find a tactful way of getting out of it.

If he's putting in an extra 30 minutes per day regardless of whether it is needed then he's logging an extra 15.5 work days over the course of a year - unpaid. Yet the first time he runs into a personal sitiuation they nickel and dime him on it.

This is pretty much the family business mantra, if you aren't part of the family, you are nothing but a machine.

Since they have shown that they will not support a good employee during trying times, I would drop down to 40 hours per week and find another gig ASAP.

Reply to
Freedom Elz

"The nice thing about being in a company you don't like is that it encourages you to leave."

"Staying anywhere more than 2 years is foolish- move up or move out."

my personal mottos

Laz

Reply to
Laz

I agree the "Son of Boss" used absolutely no tact in this matter but the fact is they are not giving him the shaft they just don't have propper skills in approaching employees. I had a boss once that was giving us some nice profit sharing checks. Then he had the audasity to mention that he was only doing it because the accountant said he would save in taxes by doing it, when he could have left it to our imagination, and boosted morale. Instead he looked like the penny pinching idiot that he is.

Reply to
Corey Scheich

What if you're where you want to be?

Reply to
Dale Dunn

What if the third year you get more vacation?

Reply to
Corey Scheich

Is this what the American workforce has to put up with?

No matter what the sums are, the boss's son sounds like a right arse! Move on and let them find another mug to do the job.

Maybe it's our British temperament, but we would never stand for that behaviour from my bosses and they know it!

Just an example, an British/Indian worker at our company, lost his father in India and this worker was given 3 weeks leave with full pay and a lift to the airport.( and picked up too, lol) Ps:- this is a small family run business too.

Reply to
Pete Newbie

An extra half-hour a day is not the kind of extra effort that merits this level of self-righteous indignation. An hour or two daily, maybe then you can cry.

Reply to
TheTick

Hell I am the son of the boss and I dream of leaving. We get no damn motivation to speak of period. A co-worker of mine which I was told I was going to be his manager, which I will go into later, anyway. Him and I worked every friday at least a half a day which was overtime because we work four ten hour days monday thru thursday. They ask us if we miss any time and threaten to dock us time. If we work overtime then we get no extra pay. He hasnt had a raise in three years and I had not had one in four. Then I told them I would work extra hours and do projects on the side for a little extra money. Dood I could go on for ever, I totally agree with you all the way.

For most of the employees, except the ones in my division because we work more overtime then anyone else, they get docked if they miss time even if they are salary and if they work overtime they get 1 day comp if they work 2 days over. Sorry my typing is bad I am pissed thinking about this shit. I dont follow the rules my mom is vice president and she constantly asks if anyone missed time and I always say no. screw that.

The communication sucks ass, the pay sucks. There is no procedures or many policies to speak of, we are constantly griped at. People are taken from their positions without any communication and sometimes I have to tell them when the real boss my dad is still around. I mean the guy I work with is told in the beginning that my dad is the manager by my dad. I offered to be the manager but no, then at a whim he wants me to start acting like his manager and not even explain it to him so I look like a dick. I have enough job descriptions which my dad is taking advantage of so he saves money. He is king of peny pinchers. I have managed people that have one job title that make the same as me and the were doing only one of the jobs I know. I am desinger, CAM programmer, plastic injection molding machine programmer, plastics division manager, maintenance, and sales.

I need to go to school and get a degree so I am more valuable and have better self esteem to get another job.

Reply to
Mike Grant

Some small businesses are simply more understanding than others. Sounds like you found one of the good ones.

Reply to
Ray Reynolds

Being where I want to be.... usually I say that when I'm in a rut, you get used to doing the same thing day in day out- yes, it is comfortable, but is it challenging ? no. are you learning anything new ? are you expanding and developing your capabilities ? if you are not, then you are wasting your time... think like Zarathrustra, hate where you are, fight for better

Reply to
Laz

No, actually, the attitudes and laws regarding work and workers differ significantly in Europe from here in the US. In Europe the well-being of people are (properly) much more likely to be regarded as the reason why companies and work exist. Here, companies and profit are regarded as the end, not the means. Especially by Republicans.

'Sporky'

Reply to
Sporkman

Reply to
kellnerp

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