Jul 3 2024
Josh Goodbaum: Hi, Amanda.
Amanda DeMatteis: Hey, Josh. What are we going to talk about today?
Goodbaum: I want to talk about a nurse whose schedule has been changed involuntarily. So, she’s been working for this hospital for years. She’s always worked day shifts. And now, her boss comes to her and says, “I’m sorry, we don’t have a choice. Now, you’re going to be assigned to work nights and weekends. You can either accept that or you can leave. Those are your options.” What do you tell this nurse who comes to you and complains about this enormous change in her life?
DeMatteis: First, I say I’m so sorry this is happening because, for anyone, this is a huge disruption to their life, what they’re used to, and it’s really difficult to deal with. But then I have to tell them that in a lot of respects, there’s not really much that I can do to help.
Unless you have an employment contract in place that dictates the terms of your employment – that might certainly include the hours that you are supposed to work, the work that you are supposed to be doing, the length of time that that employment contract is for – if you don’t have an instrument like an employment contract in place that sets out those terms, you are an employee at will. Therefore, your employer could say to you, “Hey, the hours have changed. It’s not days anymore; it’s nights. You’re not supposed to get here at nine o’clock anymore. I need you here at eight o’clock.” And as long as they are doing that uniformly – meaning it’s not just this particular nurse that is being put out like this, maybe it’s all the nurses in a particular unit or all similarly situated nurses – then that’s legal. They are uniformly changing a policy or practice, and it equally impacts all of the nurses that are similarly situated within that particular unit or department.
Same thing if we’re not talking about nurses. Maybe we’re talking about a factory worker. Maybe we’re talking about someone in an office, and the needs of the office have changed, therefore the hours of the day have changed.
What you want to look out for is a couple of things. Is it just you? Is it just the women? Is it just the men? Is it older employees? Is it younger employees? Is it white employees? Is it Latino employees? You want to take a look at who this new policy is impacting. And if you are concerned with who it’s impacting versus who it isn’t, then you might want to talk to an employment lawyer.
Another thing is you may be an employee that is a member of a union, a collective bargaining unit. And there you might have some protection that otherwise the law wouldn’t afford you. So, if you are in a union, you might want to reach out to a union steward or the president of the union and say, “Hey, this is what my boss is telling me. Is this correct? Is this the right way that this should be going?”
So, it’s not perfect information to deliver, Josh, and it’s not great news for someone that’s having this really destructive and disruptive thing happen in their work life. But a lot of times, our advice is difficult, and that is that there’s not much we can do to help, depending on the circumstances.
Goodbaum: Yeah, I agree with all of that, Amanda. I’ll add just one more thing, which is: If you end up not being able to do the nights and weekends or you just don’t want to do nights and weekends, and you either get separated from your job or you resign from your job, you should, under those circumstances, be able to receive unemployment benefits because of the material change in the circumstances of your work. So, you do have a little bit of recourse, but not nearly the kind of recourse we wish we could provide to our clients in that situation.
DeMatteis: That’s great advice. Thank you for bringing that up, Josh. And thank you so much for watching. We’ll see you next time.
Posted by Garrison, Levin-Epstein, Fitzgerald & Pirrotti, P.C. in Commentary
Tagged Amanda DeMatteis, Joshua Goodbaum
