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Is it legal to give more workload to single vs married people?

G

gophins72

Golden Member
I was at a place of employment before where the management would divy up the work and give more to single people than married people based on the reasoning that the single people would have more after hours time. Is this legal or just unethical or neither?
 
I'd assume that is some type of discrimination, though it'd probably be hard to prove.

But, i don't know shit about that and am really guessing here, maybe even flat out lying.
 
It's a little lame, but depends on the specifics. If carefully implemented, it's a reasonable approach.
 
That's bullshut.

Let me guess. When the time comes, management gives these married people a higher raise than single people because they have a family to support?
 
Every manager has similar policies giving more work to those who can accomplish it. Sometimes it's because those employees have fewer commitments and responsibilities at home.

Smart managers keep policies like that quiet and unofficial, but if your employer comes out and says he *requires* more from unmarried employees than he does from married ones, well, there's your gripe. Is it voluntary or does he require it? Will refusing the extra work harm your career?

Then again, if the employees without a family want the additional hours, and are paid for working them, then no harm no foul. As lxskllr said, if carefully implemented it is a reasonable approach.
 
On flip side married people or people with kids will often tell their employer to stick it when it comes to extra work when other people without those commitments will just roll over and say "ok".
 
padalin3, they are salary not hourly, so they dont really get more for doing it. if it is "expected" of them then they dont really benefit more than the married people. it could benefit if they had more to report at the end of the year for their appraisal, but that is pretty subjective too. and, it would harm careers yes. it was basically viewed as a beneficial loophole to productivity.
 
Not fair, but since the manager is usually allowed to assign work as he/she sees fit, there is rarely any proof of discrimination. Its called "deniability", the managers greatest weapon.
 
I don't mind getting more of the work, but I better be getting more of the pay too. When it comes to promotions, I should be at the front of the line since I put forth more of the effort.
 
Well they have the right to refuse the work, so I would say it's probably ok. Nobody can be forced to do overtime, but they can be asked and they can say yes or no. I'm single and have a house so when I worked at the help desk there was lot of opportunity to do overtime and they knew I could use the extra money so often they'd ask me and I'd say yes. I was not forced to though.
 
Red Squirrel said:
Well they have the right to refuse the work, so I would say it's probably ok. Nobody can be forced to do overtime, but they can be asked and they can say yes or no. I'm single and have a house so when I worked at the help desk there was lot of opportunity to do overtime and they knew I could use the extra money so often they'd ask me and I'd say yes. I was not forced to though.
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Maybe in Canuckistan...but here in the USA, you CAN be required to work overtime...and you CAN be fired for refusing...

http://employeeissues.com/mandatory_overtime.htm

Mandatory Overtime under the FLSA

Federal overtime law under the FLSA does not prohibit employers from forcing employees to work mandatory overtime.

In fact, the FLSA doesn't at all restrict the total number of work hours that employers may schedule for employees who are age 16 or older. The FLSA restricts work hours only for employees who are younger than age 16.

In other words, there are no protections under the FLSA for workers 16 and older who refuse to work mandatory overtime. As a result, workers 16 and older who refuse to work it are "legally" subject to employer discipline, up to and including discharge.

If the related bill (or a future equivalent) passes, the Federal Safe Nursing and Patient Care Act of 2007 will restrict mandatory overtime for nurses at certain patient-care facilities that receive Medicare payments. Some states have already enacted equivalent laws, while others are considering it. Regardless, such restrictions are designed to protect patients more than nurses, from fatigue induced by mandatory overtime.

Under FLSA overtime law (exclusive of child-labor provisions), total daily and weekly work hours are a matter of contractual agreement between employers and employees or employers and unions. In the absence of contractual agreements that restrict work hours (such as collective bargaining agreements), employers may effectively force employees to work any number of mandatory overtime hours within reason.

If you are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or Rehabilitation Act, then your employer might be required to modify your mandatory overtime schedule to reasonably accommodate your disability.

Without union representation (or a potential disability protection mentioned above) and outside of filing a lawsuit, negotiating one-on-one or through your attorney is likely to be the only "legal" way to convince your employer to reduce your mandatory overtime work hours. If that fails, then you'll likely have little choice but to involuntarily work the forced overtime or quit for a better job.

The state (or municipality) in which you work might have enacted its own overtime law, that has more generous employee provisions than the FLSA. However, it's not likely to restrict the number of mandatory overtime hours for all workers. To find out, start by checking with the relevant state labor department or consult an attorney.

Mandatory Overtime Lawsuits

Employers can't always get away with forcing mandatory overtime, such as by "squeezing" current workers to avoid hiring new workers. Employee lawsuits against employers regarding excessive mandatory overtime are on the rise, particularly by salaried-exempt employees.

Because salaried-exempt employees are not eligible for overtime pay under the FLSA, employers may require them to work extra hours without extra pay. Even so, when forced, excessive work hours became the "norm" every workweek, some salaried-exempt employees filed and won so-called mandatory overtime lawsuits.
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State law MIGHT be different however.
 
Heh, I was actually complaining about this the other day to my wife.

When I was in the Marines, occasionally we would have a "Batallion Family Day", where the married Marines would bring the wives/children to a sort of carnival with some cheap ass rides that were rented form somewhere. And guess who go to volunteer to setup/run/tear down the rides? Why who better than a single Marine living in the barracks.

So while married Marines got to walk around with their kids having a grand old time, in civilian clothing of course, all the single Marines got to set up the carnival early, work the rides and cater to a bunch of pretentious women and their kids, then stay late to tear down. And while we were tearing down we got to wave goodbye to all the married Marines who were able to go home early that day....by virtue of the fact they were married.

There was a lot of lopsided crap like that in the military.
 
jersiq said:
Heh, I was actually complaining about this the other day to my wife.

When I was in the Marines, occasionally we would have a "Batallion Family Day", where the married Marines would bring the wives/children to a sort of carnival with some cheap ass rides that were rented form somewhere. And guess who go to volunteer to setup/run/tear down the rides? Why who better than a single Marine living in the barracks.

So while married Marines got to walk around with their kids having a grand old time, in civilian clothing of course, all the single Marines got to set up the carnival early, work the rides and cater to a bunch of pretentious women and their kids, then stay late to tear down. And while we were tearing down we got to wave goodbye to all the married Marines who were able to go home early that day....by virtue of the fact they were married.

There was a lot of lopsided crap like that in the military.
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at least when you got home that day you were on your own, FREE, no goddamn nagging from wives and kids. I would gladly trade daily hard labor for the wife and kid. Can't get away for a second without being asked "where r u going? can we come?". What the hell.
 
It bugs when when people with kids get to work 6 hours days because they have to pick up their kids at 3pm while the rest of us would get in trouble for leaving before 5pm.

Luckily my current job doesn't have strict schedules, so this is no longer a problem.
 
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