[~Chester~]

This is a never ending discussion because of a pending lawsuit where I work at.

What time are you suppose to start work.

In a nutshell I work in a technical support center were we take primarily live customer calls. We have a number of applications that we have to have running in order to do our job and take calls.

The debate is, if you have a scheduled start time of 0800 should you come in at 0800 and turn your computer on and start our applications and then when every thing is ready start taking calls? (takes about 5-10 minutes to get everything going)

Or should you come in a few minutes early (none paid) and start your computer then and get ready so you can start taking calls at your scheduled start time?

Personally I think it really boils down to work ethics. I was not raised to come into work at the last possible minute then sit around BSing while I wait for my computer to start while I am on the clock. (I never turn my computer off at work, I just restart it when I leave so it is at least be booted up when I come in the next day)

[NavyEagle#1]

I agree with you, but the vast majority ( I seem to have worked with since I got out) believe the later and if they come in 10-15 min lat, well that is just the breaks. It drives me nuts, but it seems to be the norm.

Heck I start at 9 and most days get there at 8:30 , but I do leave close to to get off time and not much later unless I am working a call or something.

[NC-17]

dunno. I haven't really had a firm start time at work for almost ten years. I roll in anywhere between seven and nine am. and leave anywhere from two to six pm. just depends on my workload and meetings scheduled.

I don't work with the public though.

[rockster]

This must be a "punch the clock" type job. Although, I understand what you are saying. During my years from a teen I always loved having a paying job. But if you are saying some folks wait until their 8-5 shift to get busy turning on their computer, I hear ya. What a shame. I always showed up early to be prepared!!!!

[~Chester~]

We do have to log into our phones which records our start and stop time. Of course they say don't log in more then 5 minutes early because it screws up their "metrics".

Few years back they sent an email stating to come in 15 minutes early to start everything up but of course we were not getting paid for that time, thus the lawsuit.

Majority of the people do come in early, start their PC and go get their coffee while they wait but there is always going to be those that come in at the last minute, then go get their coffee and start their computers on company time. . Then stand around BSing and what not while others have to pick up their slack.

[Adam&Jessica]

I also work in a call center. We have to log into about 10 applications, plus the amount of time to load the roaming profile onto our desktops. Some supervisors get mad if you log in early, others ask that you come in 5 minutes early, but no earlier. The issue is that if you aren't prepared to take a live call at the exact start time of your shift, you are essentially penalized, making it look like you are late to work.

Legally, and in my opinion ethically, they can't make you come in fifteen minutes early, without paying you for that time, in order to be on time for work. I usually get to work 10 to 15 minutes early, log into the roaming profile, go refill my water bottle, then start logging in, and clock in exactly 5 minutes prior to the supposed start time of my shift. Usually by that point most of the applications are loaded, and I am halfway thru logging into them. That leaves me about two minutes to check work and client related emails, and on any open issues that may be waiting from the previous day.

Some of my coworkers have supervisors that edit their clock ins to the exact time of the start of their shift, and honestly, I don't blame them for not coming in early anymore. People shouldn't have to work for free. Time is money, and the fifteen minutes per day, five days per week, adds up to more than $20 for everyone. Mind you, best case scenario, you get more like $6 per week for coming in the 5 allowed minutes early, but at least that shows they are making a gesture.

[rockster]

!PanVet!, on 10 June 2011 - 10:37 PM, said:

We do have to log into our phones which records our start and stop time. Of course they say don't log in more then 5 minutes early because it screws up their "metrics".

Few years back they sent an email stating to come in 15 minutes early to start everything up but of course we were not getting paid for that time, thus the lawsuit.

Majority of the people do come in early, start their PC and go get their coffee while they wait but there is always going to be those that come in at the last minute, then go get their coffee and start their computers on company time. . Then stand around BSing and what not while others have to pick up their slack.

Tell em to have your workstation ready for you to perform your job at Xam. Although, in these times be thankful you have a job

[mrsdavidj6]

Guess I must be oldschool/outdated. I no longer work outside of the home (looking/interviewing now) - when I did - 14 years ago - I ALWAYS came in early. Get computers turned on, grab a cup of coffee, put away purse, say good morning, etc. I was always there 20 - 30 minutes early. I still think it's good work ethic - at least 15 minutes before shift begins. I also worked a call center; however, there was no tracking software, per se. Management could look at phone logs, though.

[Far West]

If it is a salary position you would need to get there set up be ready to "start" when the calls need to be answered at 8:00 AM, for instance.

If you are hourly and they want you to start answering the phones at 8:00 AM with clients, they need to schedule you on the clock at 7:50 to give you the 10 minutes to log in if that is what it takes to be prepared for the first call.

The call center I worked in all you did was sit down and log in, the mainframe was not turned off, it did not take 20 seconds. We could not clock in more than 5 minutes early, and you did not go to your workstation until you had clocked in. You needed to come in and put your lunch in the fridge, stuff like that before you clocked in however.

If your company is asking employees to come in 15 minutes before the scheduled start time to log onto the computer and start applications they are trying to get free work time from the employees. In a large call center that would be worth thousands of dollars to the employer. I believe there have been court cases over this and the Employer lost. It is stealing from the employee.

In the same breath, those that log in then go BS at the water cooler not answering the phones are stealing from the employer.



Compliance Assistance - Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)



Hours worked ordinarily include all the time during which an employee is required to be on the employer’s premises, on duty, or at a prescribed workplace.

http://www.dol.gov/whd/flsa/

[Jetasmom]

Having taken a recent business ethics class, I feel completely qualified to answer this questing (Being very sarcastic here).

If you are expected to begin taking calls at 8, then you should be paid for the 5-10 min. prep work. Or they can begin the answering center to open at 8:15 instead. Hubby, said it could all be resolved by simply being paid by salary rather than hourly.

No company wants to pay for an employee to come and bs around the time-clock or the coffee machine/water cooler. Of course, they feel they have the right to dock you for being late.

It comes down to the company rules and if they have the expectation to have your terminal up and running at 8.

[naturegirl]

What am I missing?? If they want you to be able to start working at 8:00 and it takes 15 minutes to boot up the computer, I would think someone in management could be tasked with booting up those computers 15 minutes before you have to start working.

Times are very tough for everyone, however if they require you get there 15 minutes early, you should be paid. This could all be avoided by one person getting things up and running.

[Jet_man1969]

naturegirl, on 11 June 2011 - 06:33 AM, said:

What am I missing?? If they want you to be able to start working at 8:00 and it takes 15 minutes to boot up the computer, I would think someone in management could be tasked with booting up those computers 15 minutes before you have to start working.

Times are very tough for everyone, however if they require you get there 15 minutes early, you should be paid. This could all be avoided by one person getting things up and running.

That's the way I see it too, If the managment doesn't want to get there early and boot everything up then have one persons start and end time 30 minutes prior to everyone else.

[Adam&Jessica]

Jet_man1969, on 11 June 2011 - 06:54 AM, said:

That's the way I see it too, If the managment doesn't want to get there early and boot everything up then have one persons start and end time 30 minutes prior to everyone else.

In the op's case, I agree with you. In the case of where I work, our center is 24/7, and it's not so much of an issue of booting up the pcs, as logging into each application, with a personalized login, which takes away the option of management doing it for you.

[sadie612]

I like to be ready to go and on my toes come time. So I am always a few minutes early to work. If I am running late and don't have that extra time I tend to have an off day .

I do it for me not for the employer ( well I guess it is in the employers favor for me to be awesome)

but I do not expect them to pay me for my time to prepare myself...If I did I would be asking them to pay me from the time I get up till the time I go to bed... heck I need sleep to function so why not just pay me for 24 hours every day ..lol

[markdavd]

Asking everyone to be 15 minutes early is a little much. Going by past precedent, the company will loose.

In one industry, the employees must put on fresh uniforms after they arrive (Street clothes aren't allowed for sanitary reasons.) While the company supplied the laundered uniforms every day, they wanted everyone to be changed and ready to go before clocking in. This was a common practice for the entire industry.

One of the larger companies was taken to court and lost big time. This affected the practice in the entire industry.

[~Chester~]

I guess I just have a problem with people who literally walk in the door 2 minutes before they are suppose to start work, then they setup their laptops, put their lunch away, BS with others, check their email, grab a cup of coffee, BS some more and eventually 20 or 30 minutes later start doing some actual work.

Guess you just can't teach work ethics anymore.

[sadie612]

!PanVet!, on 11 June 2011 - 08:39 AM, said:

I guess I just have a problem with people who literally walk in the door 2 minutes before they are suppose to start work, then they setup their laptops, put their lunch away, BS with others, check their email, grab a cup of coffee, BS some more and eventually 20 or 30 minutes later start doing some actual work.

Guess you just can't teach work ethics anymore.

I am with ya

[Adam&Jessica]

!PanVet!, on 11 June 2011 - 08:39 AM, said:

I guess I just have a problem with people who literally walk in the door 2 minutes before they are suppose to start work, then they setup their laptops, put their lunch away, BS with others, check their email, grab a cup of coffee, BS some more and eventually 20 or 30 minutes later start doing some actual work.

Guess you just can't teach work ethics anymore.

I agree with you, if they do that, it's definetly wrong. But if they show up two minutes before work, and go straight to their desk, and start their pc, and try to get to work, I have less than no problem with it.

[zoocrew]

!PanVet!, on 11 June 2011 - 08:39 AM, said:

I guess I just have a problem with people who literally walk in the door 2 minutes before they are suppose to start work, then they setup their laptops, put their lunch away, BS with others, check their email, grab a cup of coffee, BS some more and eventually 20 or 30 minutes later start doing some actual work.

Guess you just can't teach work ethics anymore.

That is not the same as the question you first asked. What you just said can be described as wasting the employer's time and the management should deal with that appropriately.

As to the original question, if you're doing company work that is required to do the company's job, you're on the company's time and the company's payroll. Booting up the computers is not personal but company. Coffee and BSing with coworkers is personal or break time.

Hope the lawsuit is won by the employees because if it is not, imagine what precedent that would set.

[footballbeerchic]

when I worked outside the home three years ago, I came in through the warehouse where the time clock was, clocked in, then had to walk all the way through the warehouse, through the gate and into the office. For 3 mins I'm walking to my office. I would start up my computer, take my lunch to the kitchen that was NOT in the smoker's lounge, go pick up my mail, check with my supervisor about what was being paid or not then start reading email. That was the worst place I've ever worked. It was the most inefficient place EVER. It just closed for good yesterday.

[mrnn]

!PanVet!, on 10 June 2011 - 10:02 PM, said:

The debate is, if you have a scheduled start time of 0800 should you come in at 0800 and turn your computer on and start our applications and then when every thing is ready start taking calls? (takes about 5-10 minutes to get everything going)

yes.

!PanVet!, on 10 June 2011 - 10:02 PM, said:

Or should you come in a few minutes early (none paid) and start your computer then and get ready so you can start taking calls at your scheduled start time?

no

!PanVet!, on 10 June 2011 - 10:02 PM, said:

Personally I think it really boils down to work ethics. I was not raised to come into work at the last possible minute then sit around BSing while I wait for my computer to start while I am on the clock. (I never turn my computer off at work, I just restart it when I leave so it is at least be booted up when I come in the next day)

I don't think it has anything to do with work ethic...it has to do with getting paid. If the company is going to be cheap and not pay me to boot up my computer early then I'm going to be cheap and not work for free. Starting my computer and applications is as much a part of my job as answering calls so, using that rationale, should I also start taking calls at 0745 while off the clock? Of course not.


If you were in a 24/7 shop and folks were waiting on you to leave then I could see getting started a bit early to build a good relationship with the prior shift...there'll come a time where you may need one of them to stay late to cover you on a morning you're running late. But if the shop just opens at 8, you won't see me at my desk until 8. If you leaving your computer on saves you time every morning, perhaps that's a rule that management should apply to everyone in order to reduce logon times.

Topics like this make me happy I'm salary...I get screwed with the lack of overtime pay but having a supervisor worry about 10 mins of work/pay would just irk the living hell out of me.


mrnn

[Moonlight Motion Pictures]

My bosses (at my real day job....Moonlight is my secondary gig) never really set a time for ME to be here. They expect our drivers to be here and be ready to go at 8am.

I used to come in at 8am, then I started coming in at 7:30, and now I get here at 7am. Why? Not because they asked me to, but because it gives me time to help organize paper work and highlight notes on the drivers sheets, and make necessary changes to their routes before they get here. The day goes much smoother that way for all of us.

I pretty much set my own hours. I know they need me here early, I know it makes a difference, and I know they my bosses appreciate it. I have extended my hours later in the afternoons too. I was leaving at 3. The reason I was leaving then is because I work 6 days a week and I did not want my bosses to have to pay me a lot of over-time. So 7 1/2 hr days during the week, plus 4-5 hrs on Saturday, they still paid me some but it wasn't excessive.

They have now made it clear that they want me here as much as I can possibly be here. I can get here as early as I want, they want me here until at least 4, and would appreciate me being here until at least 12 and even longer on Saturdays. Saturdays are not required of me though. I choose to work them. If I can't for some reason, they understand that too. All of this means they will be paying me a good bit of over time, but they are well aware and said they don't care. They will pay me to work as many hours as I want to work.

I never take time off unless it is absolutely necessary. I use my vacation days one at a time and usually those are days like 4th of July we are closed anyway and I don't get paid for otherwise. I never take a full week off. BUT, last week, I had to take 3 days off to go to NC for a funeral. When I got back, they had given me another raise. That is the second one in 2 months, and AFTER they told me they wanted me to work as many hours as I can. When she told me she gave me a raise, the first thing I did was make sure she remembered she just gave me one 2 months ago, She said she was aware and that I deserved it.

They take great care of me, appreciate and love me, and in return, I do the same. This day and time, if you have a good job, and you have good work ethics and the company knows you are not out to screw them, you are usually rewarded for it. I have seen many employees come and go here because they were milking the clock or taking advantage of this company. I will NEVER do anything to mess up this job. Been here 5 years, and plan on staying for as long as I possibly can.

[mei lan]

mrnn, on 11 June 2011 - 10:36 AM, said:

Topics like this make me happy I'm salary...I get screwed with the lack of overtime pay but having a supervisor worry about 10 mins of work/pay would just irk the living hell out of me.

And then there are some of us who are salaried but who have micro-managing bosses who get their knickers in a twist if we are 2.5 minutes late. Never mind that I have ALWAYS worked overtime as a salaried worker with no complaints, I look for work to do when I run out of work, and I always help out my co-workers when they need it. Oh, and I often come in early as well, esp. if the workload is heavy. I work in an environment like NC-17 describes, and there's no real business need for me to be at my desk at x hour, as long as I get my job done. But they have harped on it so to the point that I work 8-5 with an hour for lunch and that's it. They have destroyed my motivation to go above and beyond (and the pay and benefits aren't anything out of the ordinary; the pay is somewhat less than the rest of the market for what I do).

This post has been edited by mei lan: 11 June 2011 - 12:08 PM

[zoocrew]

mei lan, on 11 June 2011 - 12:07 PM, said:

And then there are some of us who are salaried but who have micro-managing bosses who get their knickers in a twist if we are 2.5 minutes late. Never mind that I have ALWAYS worked overtime as a salaried worker with no complaints, I look for work to do when I run out of work, and I always help out my co-workers when they need it. Oh, and I often come in early as well, esp. if the workload is heavy. I work in an environment like NC-17 describes, and there's no real business need for me to be at my desk at x hour, as long as I get my job done. But they have harped on it so to the point that I work 8-5 with an hour for lunch and that's it. They have destroyed my motivation to go above and beyond (and the pay and benefits aren't anything out of the ordinary; the pay is somewhat less than the rest of the market for what I do).

And we ALWAYS KNOW companies will do the right thing, especially when it comes to labor and letting them get involved in politics.

Back to the point you made. Companies have no incentive to "take care" of their employees, nor reward the best employees. They know that the employee needs the job and how it is to find another. So they can and will run roughshod over employees because they can. And the companies know there are another 100 people just as qualified, if not more so, waiting and begging for that job with less pay.

And we want companies in charge of things that are important to our nation and culture?

[Myprayers77]

The last office job I had you had to clock in on your computer. So if you wanted to clock in at 8 your computer had to be up and running a few min before 8. Also we were not allowed to leave our computers on over night.

It was never a big deal to me because most mornings I had early meetings that I needed to prepare for anyway.

[Adam&Jessica]

Myprayers77, on 11 June 2011 - 02:19 PM, said:

The last office job I had you had to clock in on your computer. So if you wanted to clock in at 8 your computer had to be up and running a few min before 8. Also we were not allowed to leave our computers on over night.

It was never a big deal to me because most mornings I had early meetings that I needed to prepare for anyway.

This is my issue as well. We use adp, and clock in on our pcs. We are required to restart the pcs at the end of our shifts, so they dont' have to start up, but we do have to wait several minutes on the roaming desktop profiles and apps to load.

[Starr & Dru's Nana]

Years ago when I worked in a doctor's office, I got to work at 8:30 and opened up. I was the one employee there to field phone calls and early patients until the xray tech and the front office people got there at 9. It NEVER failed, they would not get there until 9:10 or 9:15 and then take 10 or 15 minutes to get settled in to start work. That meant I couldn't start my job until 9:30 or so. I also went to lunch a half hour earlier than the rest of the staff and again opened at 12:30 to field phone calls and sign patients in until the front office staff got there. NEVER failed that they were 1:15 or so getting back in, even if they left at 11:55.

In my hour lunch time, I often stopped at McDonald's and drove the 2 miles to my mom's house for lunch. When my daughter was still an infant, and I was still nursing her, I did THAT during my lunch hour and got back in AN HOUR! Not my co-workers. They could go half a block from the McDonald's (about 1 mile from the office)and be gone for an hour and a half!

!PanVet!, on 10 June 2011 - 10:02 PM, said:

This is a never ending discussion because of a pending lawsuit where I work at.

What time are you suppose to start work.

In a nutshell I work in a technical support center were we take primarily live customer calls. We have a number of applications that we have to have running in order to do our job and take calls.

The debate is, if you have a scheduled start time of 0800 should you come in at 0800 and turn your computer on and start our applications and then when every thing is ready start taking calls? (takes about 5-10 minutes to get everything going)

Or should you come in a few minutes early (none paid) and start your computer then and get ready so you can start taking calls at your scheduled start time?

Personally I think it really boils down to work ethics. I was not raised to come into work at the last possible minute then sit around BSing while I wait for my computer to start while I am on the clock. (I never turn my computer off at work, I just restart it when I leave so it is at least be booted up when I come in the next day)

[markdavd]

Myprayers77, on 11 June 2011 - 02:19 PM, said:

The last office job I had you had to clock in on your computer. So if you wanted to clock in at 8 your computer had to be up and running a few min before 8. Also we were not allowed to leave our computers on over night.

It was never a big deal to me because most mornings I had early meetings that I needed to prepare for anyway.

Out of curiosity, what happened if the computer had problems and wouldn't boot?


As far as the question the OP asked, ideally, the company would have a slightly different shift for a few folks. Some would start at 7:15 and leave 15 minutes before most. They would be ready to the first calls before 8:00. Most would arrive at 8:00 and be ready to take calls shortly, then a few would start at 8:15 and take the latest calls while everyone else are shutting down their computers and leaving.

[PowderSpringsDad]

!PanVet!, on 10 June 2011 - 10:02 PM, said:

This is a never ending discussion because of a pending lawsuit where I work at.

What time are you suppose to start work.

In a nutshell I work in a technical support center were we take primarily live customer calls. We have a number of applications that we have to have running in order to do our job and take calls.

The debate is, if you have a scheduled start time of 0800 should you come in at 0800 and turn your computer on and start our applications and then when every thing is ready start taking calls? (takes about 5-10 minutes to get everything going)

Or should you come in a few minutes early (none paid) and start your computer then and get ready so you can start taking calls at your scheduled start time?

Personally I think it really boils down to work ethics. I was not raised to come into work at the last possible minute then sit around BSing while I wait for my computer to start while I am on the clock. (I never turn my computer off at work, I just restart it when I leave so it is at least be booted up when I come in the next day)

I would get there early and be ready to take my first call at 8am sharp. No exceptions.

[mei lan]

zoocrew, on 11 June 2011 - 12:25 PM, said:

And we want companies in charge of things that are important to our nation and culture?

NO. I want WE THE PEOPLE in charge of things that are important to our nation and culture.

[Myprayers77]

markdavd, on 11 June 2011 - 03:24 PM, said:

Out of curiosity, what happened if the computer had problems and wouldn't boot?


As far as the question the OP asked, ideally, the company would have a slightly different shift for a few folks. Some would start at 7:15 and leave 15 minutes before most. They would be ready to the first calls before 8:00. Most would arrive at 8:00 and be ready to take calls shortly, then a few would start at 8:15 and take the latest calls while everyone else are shutting down their computers and leaving.

Once they did start you would clock in and then email HR stating your problem and the actual time that you arrived. It was normally no problem.

There were a few people who were fired when they moved the clock. They thought they could adjust the clock to state 5:00 and actually leave at 4:00. Little did they know that HR could see that the clock was moved. Needless to say only one or two people did it.

[~Chester~]

We are a 24hr support so we have people coming and going all the time. We log into our phones.

The issue is people come in right before their start time then turn on their computer, then go to the break room to get coffee etc, their excuse for not working right at their start time is they have to wait on their computer to start. But they are in the break room doing personal stuff on company time.

They should come in early so they can do their personal stuff and while they are there how hard is it to press the on button then go to the break room to get your coffee and BS with co workers? When you come back from doing personal stuff you computer is booted. It really only takes about 2 minutes to start the other apps needed for work.

And don't even get me started on the smokers who go out and smoke on company time, then still take their regular breaks and lunch.

[zoocrew]

!PanVet!, on 11 June 2011 - 08:18 PM, said:

We are a 24hr support so we have people coming and going all the time. We log into our phones.

The issue is people come in right before their start time then turn on their computer, then go to the break room to get coffee etc, their excuse for not working right at their start time is they have to wait on their computer to start. But they are in the break room doing personal stuff on company time.

They should come in early so they can do their personal stuff and while they are there how hard is it to press the on button then go to the break room to get your coffee and BS with co workers? When you come back from doing personal stuff you computer is booted. It really only takes about 2 minutes to start the other apps needed for work.

And don't even get me started on the smokers who go out and smoke on company time, then still take their regular breaks and lunch.

But the booting of the computers is company business. If they are talking or messing around while waiting for the boot up, that is a problem with the company not giving them something productive to do. Requiring they be in the place while the computer boots is still requiring them to be there and they should get paid for it.

mei lan, on 11 June 2011 - 03:31 PM, said:

NO. I want WE THE PEOPLE in charge of things that are important to our nation and culture.

Then you should, as a matter of principle, not want companies influencing elections or in charge of health care.

[mei lan]

zoocrew, on 11 June 2011 - 08:23 PM, said:

Then you should, as a matter of principle, not want companies influencing elections or in charge of health care.

As a rule, I don't want them influencing elections. I am, however, for freedom of speech, and if a company wishes to spend money on advertising, etc., I don't wish to hinder them. RE: in charge of health care - I would much rather companies be in charge of health care vs. the government being in charge of it. The military is the only thing I can think of that the government does even barely well, and there's a ton of waste in that.

[zoocrew]

mei lan, on 11 June 2011 - 09:46 PM, said:

As a rule, I don't want them influencing elections. I am, however, for freedom of speech, and if a company wishes to spend money on advertising, etc., I don't wish to hinder them. RE: in charge of health care - I would much rather companies be in charge of health care vs. the government being in charge of it. The military is the only thing I can think of that the government does even barely well, and there's a ton of waste in that.

I certainly disagree that corporations are persons under the Constitution. Hopefully, one day, that ruling can be overturned.

As for your thinking companies can do better than the government, I disagree with that one too. If companies could do better, they already would have. Oh, and the waste I can cite with the levels of bureaucracy from companies who are trying to NOT pay the claims made. That is like putting the fox in charge of the hen house.

[Harlee71]

My friend was included in a class action against Enterprise Rental call center. For the minutes they were not paid for that are very similar to this.

http://workerwagerig...-the-clock-work

I was once written up for coming in early and doing minimal work 15min early everyday. I was told if I was injured and not working my assigned schedule I would not be covered by workers comp., and they did not want to hire an attorney for this.

[Colonel Duke LaCross]

zoocrew, on 11 June 2011 - 10:09 PM, said:

I certainly disagree that corporations are persons under the Constitution. Hopefully, one day, that ruling can be overturned.

As for your thinking companies can do better than the government, I disagree with that one too. If companies could do better, they already would have. Oh, and the waste I can cite with the levels of bureaucracy from companies who are trying to NOT pay the claims made. That is like putting the fox in charge of the hen house.

Holy crap batman- that's one of the dumbest things I've seen you post, and you post a lot of lame things! The private sector is ten times more efficient than the gooberment! Someone has been drinking the Obumer flavored Kool-aid!

This post has been edited by bigsky: 11 June 2011 - 10:36 PM

[Far West]

Harlee71, on 11 June 2011 - 10:13 PM, said:

My friend was included in a class action against Enterprise Rental call center. For the minutes they were not paid for that are very similar to this.

http://http://worker...-investigation/

Sounds exactly like PanVet's company... With changes in technology come new areas that must be agreed on in the work place.

Osman & Smay LLP is currently investigating potential claims on behalf of call center employees. Call center employees are often required to work significant hours and may not be paid for all hours worked. Many call centers utilize computer systems requiring call center employees to clock-in to time-keeping software to begin tracking the number of hours worked. As a result, these call center employees may not be paid for the time it takes to turn on and off their computers and any time spent performing work away from their computers. Although, the amount of time worked off-the-clock by an individual worker may seem insignificant on a daily basis, such call centers often have hundreds or thousands of employees and these seemingly minor violations may result in millions of dollars in unpaid wages.

One of the Airlines I worked for had to give the ramp workers 45 minutes to change into their uniforms, then 45 minutes to change out of them! (Negotiated by the union.) The airline had to provide clean uniforms for them to wear each day. (AGAIN Negotiated by the union.)

The rest of the employees (who were all responsible for their own uniforms - wool- that had to be dry cleaned,) felt this was absolute BS. The fact that the ramp workers were paid for an hour and a half to "change clothes," ...ESPECIALLY when many just jumped in their car and left. Then they would bring back the dirty ramp uniform the next day when they changed into a clean one for the day ... but it had been Union negotiated. I was in Mgmt-corporate sales, so I had no dog in the fight, but I had worked these jobs in the past, and I could appreciate their disgust.


The first Airline I worked for we were given two ramp uniforms, two flight attendent uniforms, and we were responsible to care for them and wash them... You showed up to work dressed for which area you were working that day and clocked in. As it should be.

I can see where workers take advantage of the businesses, and where business takes advantage of the worker.

[PowderSpringsDad]

mei lan, on 11 June 2011 - 09:46 PM, said:

As a rule, I don't want them influencing elections. I am, however, for freedom of speech, and if a company wishes to spend money on advertising, etc., I don't wish to hinder them. RE: in charge of health care - I would much rather companies be in charge of health care vs. the government being in charge of it. The military is the only thing I can think of that the government does even barely well, and there's a ton of waste in that.

The private sector does a far better job than the government in almost everything. Only fools want the government to manage their healthcare.

[~Chester~]

We do have a class action lawsuit over the whole "be in 15 minutes early" email that a manager sent out about 5 years ago.

We log into our phones so don't need the computer up and running. But if you come in at the last minute, log into your phone then head to the break room to get your coffee on the companies dime why can't you power on your PC before you head to the break room on the companies dime?

Or better yet get your coffee and your BSing done before you log on and while your at it how hard is it to press the power button then go do your personal stuff?

I find it humorous to a degree that the same people who do not believe in coming in a few minutes early to get ready because we don't get paid for it don't seem to mind surfing the Net and watching youtube when they are suppose to be available to take customer calls.