two weeks notice and a bit of retaliation. what is my last day????
August 29, 2014 5:58 PM   Subscribe

i previously posted this ask and i'm happy to say that i'm moving on to bigger and better things. now that the timeline is in place, i'm seeing some blowback from management. what are my options to get out with bridges still intact and bad blood unspilled?

after i gave notice, i was immediately scheduled for 8 straight days on the longest shifts possible. i realized that was a possibility and i'm pushing on through. i'm a trooper. however, i noted, in writing, that my final day was this coming thursday at the close of business. i was then scheduled till monday, with tuesday being the floating holiday we take for labor day, as our venue is closed that day. i was then scheduled wednesday and thursday as off. since then, i noticed that the actual physical management schedule had been altered and that my previously scheduled off thursday was now just...blank. blacked out, no words, etc. this evening on his way out, my boss asked me to clarify my last day and i said that i had noted it would be thursday at the close of business per my resignation letter. to which he replied, "oh great, well then you can work thursday", to which I replied, "no, that is one of my two scheduled days off for this week". he countered by saying that i had tuesday/wednesday off, and i let him know that i was well aware that one of those days was a paid holiday which my contract specifically mentions and that i wouldn't be available thursday. he smiled sheepishly at being caught and said something to the effect of "we'll work it out" and left. i do not trust this man. his very actions tonight of artiface in a an attempt to trick me into losing a day off are pretty much representative of his true nature. prior to this, despite the rough schedule i was placed on, he had said that there was no bad blood between us and that he respected my decision to leave. i would very much like to keep it that way as the umbrella company at current employer has many other divisions and i could see returning to one of them down the road. so, can they make me work on what was a previously scheduled day off and part of my respite from a contracted 50 hour work week? as an added and final note, i refuse to spend one minute more than i have to in this hell-on-earth and will not be returning thursday for one more day of punishment and degradation, so regardless, that is not an option. how will this go down?
posted by ps_im_awesome to Work & Money (17 answers total)
 
Hand in whatever you need to on what you think is your last shift and say good riddance to the place.
posted by xingcat at 6:05 PM on August 29, 2014 [5 favorites]


So....of course, you're leaving exactly when you said you were and no later.

Honestly, take it up with the labor board if he tries to screw you. Note how they're not worried about burning bridges with YOU?

Fuck 'em.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 6:11 PM on August 29, 2014 [4 favorites]


They do not own you. Your employment is most likely entirely at-will, contract or no. You're done with them when you say you're done with them, end of story.
posted by killdevil at 6:21 PM on August 29, 2014 [1 favorite]


if your explanation to your manager of when your last day is, was as hard to understand as this question you wrote, l can see why there's confusion.

Your last day is Thursday at the close if business? Close of business is a moment, not a day ... so I have no idea what you mean.

And that's your last day but you're taking it off?
posted by jayder at 6:29 PM on August 29, 2014 [6 favorites]


Best answer: Write down a little journal of this stuff. Maybe just email it to yourself. Note dates and times. Mention how you realized your boss tried to screw you. This documentation will be useful in case he actually does screw you.
posted by ryanrs at 6:31 PM on August 29, 2014


Best answer: i refuse to spend one minute more than i have to in this hell-on-earth and will not be returning thursday for one more day of punishment and degradation, so regardless, that is not an option. how will this go down?

If you're not going back you are not going back, so I don't see where the confusion is. Thursday is your last day. Tuesday is a holiday. You have Weds and Thurs as your scheduled days off. This was the schedule which it appears they changed on you?

"Dear Manager, as I told you in my resignation letter Thursday will be my last day. I had made other plans prior to you changing the schedule to putting me on Thursday. I will not be available to work on Thursday."

They could try likely shitty stuff like withhholding your paycheck or maybe being jerks about paying out vacation or whatever. Just document and be ready for them to do something snake-like like giving you an earlier day off and then trying to wrestle you into working Thursday. Basically they don't own you, they can't make you come in. As long as you have plausible deniability that you're not just trying to screw them, I'd just say this and be done with it. To heck with 'em.
posted by jessamyn at 6:39 PM on August 29, 2014


So your last day is monday. I'm assuming you don't get paid for your Days off But you do get paid for the holiday. Honestly when framed like that it sounds like you are trying to get them to pay you an extra day. Regardless if the eight hours of pay if it isn't going to make our break you seriously just get your stuff out say goodbye to everyone and go on your merry way.
posted by AlexiaSky at 7:05 PM on August 29, 2014


Slavery is literally illegal. Don't worry so much.
posted by oceanjesse at 7:07 PM on August 29, 2014


I do understand this situation may have come up that because they scheduled you 8 days in a row that it just so happens that your days off fall the way they do. I'm not saying it is your fault; I'm saying it could be framed in the opposite manner.
posted by AlexiaSky at 7:08 PM on August 29, 2014


Frankly, if it were me, I'd work Thursday, rather than risk leaving on bad terms with the powers-that-be (not to mention the possibility of some kind of nastiness on their part, like withholding your final paycheck). But then again, assertiveness and risk-taking were never my strong points.

Also, like Jayder above, I'm a little confused about the whole "Thursday is my last day, but I'm not actually working on Thursday" explanation.

Just work on Thursday and be the trouper that you say you are.
posted by akk2014 at 7:40 PM on August 29, 2014 [2 favorites]


Best answer: I think it makes 100% sense that your resignation is effective Thursday, and they just happened to (out of the kindness of their hearts) give you the most ass-awful schedule they could and tried to get out of giving you your weekend. They are not allowed to squeeze things out of you that aren't in your contract. I have no idea how this would sound like scheming on your part whatsoever-- I'm sure had you the choice, you would not have chosen eight days in a row of hell.

That said, I think you're overly worried-- if they don't give you an appropriate replacement day off, you do not have to come on Thursday, and you have the facts on your side. You sound too worried about them probably because you've been beaten down and degraded by them to the point where you no longer have self-assurance. You're fine! You're in the right! You do not have to go along with their illegal shenanigans on your last day of official employment there. And no, it doesn't sound like you're trying to get an extra anything out of them. That's how the damn holidays work.
posted by stoneandstar at 11:01 PM on August 29, 2014 [2 favorites]


"My final day of work will be Monday. My final day of employment will be Thursday--one of the two previously agreed upon scheduled days off owed to me after working 8 days on."

The 'close of business on Thursday' is confusing terminology at first... at least in this question. Perhaps it is just as (initially) as confusing to them too.
posted by stubbehtail at 8:51 AM on August 30, 2014


Two weeks' notice is a courtesy, not a legal requirement. If they schedule you for Thursday, call them Wednesday (or even Thursday morning before your scheduled start time!) and tell them you quit effective immediately.

If they're being jerks about it anyway, and you already have another job lined up, I wouldn't worry too much about "burning bridges."
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 9:57 AM on August 30, 2014


In my employee handbook they say that if you don't give 2 weeks notice, they don't have to pay your outstanding vacation time. I'm not sure if it's legal, but it could mess you up. Probably better to be safe and work Thursday. Maybe they'll throw you a party! Yeah, right.
posted by H21 at 12:46 PM on August 30, 2014


In my employee handbook they say that if you don't give 2 weeks notice, they don't have to pay your outstanding vacation time.

Completely illegal where I live. I don't know about other places.
posted by small_ruminant at 1:03 PM on August 30, 2014


I can schedule my employees on their Regular Day Off. That's not a big deal at all. Individual days off are not guaranteed, only that it will be fair among employees.

If I did schedule you on your last day, which you thought you had off, the reason would have to be that you were the next person to be forced in by the overtime assignment process that we use. The reason could NOT be, well, they're leaving anyway so screw 'em. Also, I would be aware that if you didn't show up, there would be nothing I could do about it. What am I going to do, write a reprimand on a non-employee? So it would only happen if I was in a serious staffing jam, and I would be asking you for a favor and act accordingly.

You absolutely have the legal right to be paid for every hour worked, including the holiday, plus any premium for working the holiday. If they're dicks about making you work as retaliation, well, that's up to them, as long as they pay for it.
posted by ctmf at 2:16 PM on August 30, 2014


ps. you probably want to start answering the question more clearly: "I'm technically an employee through Thursday, but my last work day will be ___."

HR needs to know the former, the shift scheduler needs to know the latter, and your manager might be acting as either when he asks. So answer both.
posted by ctmf at 2:20 PM on August 30, 2014


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