My wife works in a restaurant, and the power-tripping manager has instituted a new policy where all shift changes must be approved by management. I think that is reasonable enough, but they’re also asking the originally-scheduled employee why they are switching shifts, then approving or denying based on the answer.
For example, her coworker (Tom) wanted Monday afternoon off, and Harry agreed to cover the shift. The manager asked Tom why he wanted Harry to work for him, and Tom said, “I have a softball game.” Manager denied the shift change because it was “unnecessary”.
Is this legal? I feel like if you’re able to find someone to cover your shift, you don’t owe management any explanation why you need the time off. How should my wife approach this situation? Colorado, USA BTW.
You shouldn’t even “find someone to cover your shift”. That’s the manager’s job. If the manager is not the owner then a call to corporate is necessary. If they’re the owner then fuck this place.
If you were scheduled to work it is a reasonable thing to do though.
Nope, that’s why there is management. They take care of scheduling. Employees don’t need to do management’s job for them. I always call off at my job, never heard my manager tell me to find someone to cover my shift, they take care of it. This is a culture that restaurants made us think is ok, and it is not