Can your boss take away your hours because you won’t call in sick to your other job?

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Can your boss take away your hours because you won’t call in sick to your other job?

I work in a restaurant 25 years. My shifts have been mostly the same every week. About 2 years ago, I got a DUI so my boss took a shift away. A year later, another employee got a DUI and my boss bailed him out and none of their were shifts taken away. Then he kept changing my shifts and hours, so I got a second job. My schedule has been the same every week for the last 5 years. Almost a year ago, 05/05, I planned my vacation around my regular schedule with a flight leaving hours after my shift. We are a Mexican restaurant. When I told him 2 weeks before that I needed to be off by a certain time, later than I usually work, he told me that it wasn’t possible since he was giving my shift to his son and his girlfriend. So I didn’t work that day at all. This year, 05/05, falls on a Sunday. I haven’t worked at the Mexican restaurant on a Sunday in over 2 years as I got another job. He told me that I need to take the day off from my other job because he needs me. When I told him no that I wasn’t going to do that and the fact that he took my shift away from me the year before, I wasn’t going to hurt my other job to help him. So the following 2 weeks since then, he has taken a full shift away from me. I have every schedule and his responses to me involving this matter. Plus, we get paid on the 5th and the 20th but sometimes we don’t receive our paychecks until days later and even then they sometimes bounce or are postdated. I’m tired of him messing with my livelihood. Do I have any legal reprieve?

Asked on April 16, 2019 under Employment Labor Law, California

Answers:

M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 4 years ago | Contributor

As unfair as it may seem, your employer has the right to ask you this. The fact is that absent a union agreement or employment contract to the contrary, you are an "at will" worker which means that your comapny can set the conditions of your employment as it sees fit so long as no form of legally actionable discrimination plays a role in your treatment.

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 4 years ago | Contributor

Yes, your employer may take away your hours if you won't call in sick to your other job. Your employer does not need to take your interests or needs into account at all; also, all employment in this nation is "employment at will" unless you have a written employment contract to the contrary. Your employer may cut your hours for essentially any reason, including that you will not call in sick to a second job.


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