Work from home employee told they need to use PTO if they want to use the bathroom.
"My boss wanted me to use a sick day to use the bathroom."
SpecterGygax
I work from home and stepped away from my workstation to use the bathroom this morning. Halfway through my 8 minute bathroom break I got a voicemail from my boss telling me that I either needed to call in sick, take PTO or get back online right now.
I reiterate, I was offline for 8 freaking minutes and they wanted me to use a sick day. I frequently skip breaks and work past when my shift is set to end. I got this job my second year in college because I was sick of working retail.
This job has slowly gotten much worse than retail. The customers are worse, the supervisors don’t care if they verbally abuse you, your schedule can get changed without any notification.
They give people work that they legally can’t be asked to do because the company won’t foot the bill to give employees proper qualifications and we get paid less than we would working at McDonalds. It was a decent place for a college student to work at first, but this entire company has gone off the rails.
Edit: I just saw it was added to my file as a verbal warning! I’m in a pretty drawn out application process for a job that actually uses my degree and was planning to just tough it out till then, but so think it’s time to find a temp secretary position or something until then.
Here were the top rated comments from readers:
RichyCigars
Ask them for a copy of the policy that outlined this expectation.
roughneck78show
$20 they do not have one and his supervisor is on some micro managing BS.
5141121
"Please point out the relevant part of the employee handbook stating that bathroom breaks are not an acceptable reason to be unavailable..."
CC HR with the recording of the VM.
Fixerguy415
I guess it's time to completely quit working through any breaks. "Oh, y'all want to f&^k me around for 8 damn minutes? Ok, watch this: The free work y'all BEEN (note the past tense) getting from me during my lunch and my 15 minute breaks is, as of this moment, dead."
No more. When I take my lunch I'm not lifting a finger for y'all. Whenever I take my 15 minutes 2x a day (and I absolutely AM taking all of those) I'm not lifting a finger for y'all. Not even answering the phone if I'm on a break... Lunch or a 15. It'll wait until after I'm back from break because that what the Law REQUIRES of you.
CatchMeIfYouCan09
"Unfortunately, denying my bathroom usage is an OSHA violation and attempting to force PTO use for a bathroom break is time theft by federal definition. Which complaint process would you like to take part in? Or can I simply use the damn bathroom and get back online?"
Garrden
Absolutely appalling. Also, in the US restricting employee bathroom access is an OSHA violation.
WriteUrOwnEnding
Obviously it’s time to leave and make more at McDonald’s, but on your way out, report them for every illegal action, wage theft, and dirty laundry you can. Everything. If you’re lucky, they’ll retaliate, and you can get a nice severance 😋