Your opinion needed ...

[Thumper]

... well, not really NEEDED ... just curious as to what YOUSE dufes think.

IMHO, this would be a clear complaint for the Labor Board ... but nothing is going to be done as it's just not serious enough to "rock the boat" in an economy such as we have now ... not to mention the scarcity of jobs in this small town. So, I'm basically just letting off a bit of steam by writing about it here.

A couple weeks ago, the General Manager at Lynn's hotel resigned. (he actually resigned earlier, but left the hotel a week ago) The new GM started last week. THIS week, Lynn's boss (who's on salary) is on vacation, so Lynn's running the office by herself. Lynn's vacation begins on Friday and we're leaving town Thursday night, so she was planning to do laundry and various odds and ends tonight to prepare for our trip. Yesterday, she was informed she has to attend the grand opening of a new Hyatt in Tampa as a representative of the hotel. (her GM and assistant GM are attending also) This is all taking place after hours ... this evening. The new GM (male) told the Assistant GM (female) to "go out, buy a new suit and charge it to the company" as he wants her to "look her best" tonight. Ok, that's a bit shaky as it is ... but here's the REAL rub....

Lynn is an hourly employee and pretty dang low paid considering she's been there 10 years ... but that's pretty much the norm for this town. I told her she needs to be compensated for mileage (fuel, etc) and she should also be "on the clock" as she's basically filling in for her salaried boss, as far as I'm concerned. She's managed to hitch a ride with the Assistant GM, but the AGM informed her this morning that she told the new GM Lynn should be paid for her time. The GM flatly refused and said she would NOT be paid.

This is all starting to REALLY smell. It's NOT worth making waves with a new boss and possibly losing a job over, but I'm big on principles. I'm seeing red right now and ready to go for the jugular ... but I should probably just sit back and cool off 'til we find out what this new GM is all about. I told Lynn to document this and keep it in her "file", but I've told her that a zillion times over the years and no such file actually exists. :(

What'cha think? Am I blowing this out of proportion?

[BarryBobPosthole]

It depends on how you choose to look at it. I know how I'd look at it but it'd probably be a lot different than how most would. Especially here. But here's my take. The new guy or gal is likely sizing up his staff and deciding who he can count on and who he can't. A social/work situation like that grand opening deal is an ideal place to do that since people in those kind of spots depend on their own talent and experience and its kind of a pressure deal. so I think it's a try-out so to speak. If I were in her shoes I'd view it that way, do a fantastic job representing my company, and know that I would have an opportunity for some important capital in my career. If I looked at it as simply a job and I didn't care about the long term, then yeah, I'd insist on being paid. The boss just laid it out there. If he's smart, he's seeing who takes what bait.

BKB

[Thumper]

VERY good point and appreciated ... it may have lowered my BP just a tad. I guess it's just difficult to look at anything in a positive light as the management has been so notoriously poor at this place, it's almost impossible to keep a good attitude these days. There have been no real "chiefs" for years and the Indians have been running the place.

EXCELLENT point ... he could well be "feeling people out" and learning who's who. The place has been such a negative the past few years I've almost forgotten how to take in the whole picture. BUT ... if he's anything like the last couple of assholes they put in there ... there IS no positive. Time will tell.

[BarryBobPosthole]

I don't know why this is, but its a truth about American businesses in general. The very face of our businesses, those people that deal directly with the public, our customers, are typically the lowest paid and therefore the least experienced people in our companies. any time a company needs to cut overhead, they cut THOSE people typically and retain higher paid people who are a lot of times two or three times removed from the income stream of the company. Its especially true in about any retail business and I'm sure the hotel/motel business is much the same. So the line management seems to be made up of people who thrived in the resulting anarchy and were selected as managers not because of their management skills but because they were the best at survival instincts. That's not all bad, but its a part of business that I always thought was seriously upside down. If only I could be king for a day!

BKB

[Thumper]

OTOH, I just scanned through Lynn's Company Employee Handbook ...


For hourly employees eligible for overtime pay .... "donated" time or unscheduled work without pay is neither expected nor permitted.

Still, I'm leaning toward your line of thought.

[Chicken Dinner]

Clearly, it's a FLSA violation to require a "non-exempt" employee attend a work function and not pay them. There's also no requirement, at least from a government perspective, to reimburse employees for mileage to a business function. The answer may be in the hotel's employee handbook if they permit or require it. It is not permissible for the AGM to buy a new suit and charge it to the company unless it's treated as taxable income. The basic rule of thumb is that unless your name or the company's name is on the clothing it's probably not deductible or reimbursable on a tax free basis.

All that said, Barry makes a good point. I probably would look it as an opportunity to impress the new boss and wouldn't worry about it unless it became a regular thing.

[Thumper]

Thanks CD ... and I agree with your last sentence. I guess the management has been in turmoil for so long at this company ... I've copped an attitude and can only see the negatives, forgetting there may be positives. They have a sucky track record, so it's difficult to have a positive attitude these days. Maybe it's time to keep a clean slate until the dust settles.

[FooBang]

I think it's a great opportunity to go from hourly to salary. Obviously, the GM thinks enough of her to ask her to represent the company. I'd say go for it! Only good things can come out of it.

[Thumper]

Yep, it'll just be her, the GM and the Assistant GM ... so I guess it's a good sign. BUT ... I'm not sure how desirable it is to be on salary in a business that is open 24/7/365.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Believe me, you want to be on salary if the salary is commensurate, to use a stupid as shit term for it, with the position. You just have so much more wiggle room in a salaried position than you do an hourly one. Sure, there are times you work many more hours than you would 'on the clock'. Hell I work ten hours a day right now and I've been doing this for 35 fucking years. HOWEVER, if I have something I need to do I do it. There's flexibility you can never have in a job where you are tied to a process and a desk.

Anyway, its time for Bucky to come piss on managers.

BKB

[Thumper]

Yep P-hole, I worked on salary 99% of my working life I think. What you say has merit, but she has a piss-ant job and hit the "glass ceiling" years ago. I've always gone the management route including running my own business, but she has absolutely no interest in any of it. She has an 8-5, M-F job and likes it that way. We've talked about it ... I look at it as lack of ambition, she says she'd rather be happy making less than miserable making more. To each his (or her) own I suppose. She gets 3-weeks vacation a year plus holidays. Plus, she gets about 20 free nights at any Hyatt in the world (per year) as well as an employee discount when she goes over the 20 freebies. She can also talk a manager into a comp room at times. Since my medical problem, we seldom take more than a few "work days" off. Maybe a Friday and a Monday for a 4-day weekend ... things like that. In fact, we'll be headed to the beach this weekend ... leaving Thursday night and returning Sunday night ... but with the holiday, she will not eat any vacation time. Dividing all those days up into little mini-vacations can really add up to a LOT of long weekends. We take a zillion trips and it normally only costs us whatever our transportation runs us. Even our meals (IF we eat at the hotel, are 50% off for employees).

[Thumper]

Well, it was a good night actually. Much of the higher echelon from Hyatt (Corporate) were there. She did quite a bit of "networking" and rubbed elbows with a bunch of the Hyatt mucky-mucks who appeared to be impressed with her.

[Niner]

I'm glad it turned out good.
Having never been in management, and an hourly schlep my whole "working career"... I can say that I cannot think of a time when I would have been requested to attend something and been "off the clock". The last place I worked at (2003-2012) would never, I do not believe, have asked me to do so. They sent me off to a "convention" a couple of times, and when I did they paid me for my flight/travel time.....that was (is) company policy and they were very adamant about keeping track of the time I spent traveling, in classes, and working the trade show.

Too bad I'm not still working...they might have sent me to this year's conference in Orlando.

http://events.ncsli.org/e/WS/WSM.aspx?hkey=100a45f6-7ebd-4967-8db3-6b065cf32431&WebsiteKey=69731f61-5509-4ae3-9a5f-535d405c53b0&New_ContentCollectionOrganizerCommon=1#New_Content CollectionOrganizerCommon


As I already said, I am glad it turned out well. Heck, they might be considering her for her boss's job. Or maybe they are thinking about turning her position into a salaried one. There is NO telling what "they" have in mind.

[Thumper]

Actually, we talked last night and came up with an opinion. The subject of paid time never came up with the GM last night and it seemed to be basically a non-issue. The Assistant GM OTOH is known for "grand-standing" and always wanting to look like the "hero" in situations like this. What we "believe" happened is, the AGM simply told Lynn the GM refused to allow her to be "on the clock" so that she (the AGM) could later tell Lynn not to worry about it and that she'd "take care of it". That seems to be her M.O. At any rate, Lynn never punched out, went to the function (they all took one car) and punched out when they returned to the hotel last evening. We'll see what happens once the time card reaches payroll. WE both have the feeling the time will be paid with no questions asked.