Can my employer force me to drive to work during a PA state of emergency?
It really depends upon the exact nature of the "State of Emergency" as written. For example. If it says words to the effect "..the general public is advised to stay off the roads due to the state of emergency..." there is no mandate to stay off. Your management has every right to enforce their attendance policy. If it says words to the effect ".. the genral public is strongly urged to stay off the roads due to the state of emergency..." the wording is stronger but not mandatory. Your management has every right to enforce their attendance policy. If it says words to the effect "... the general public is ordered to stay off the roads due to the state of emergency...only employees who work in public safety are exempted from this order...violaters are subject to legal punitive measures including fines.." the wording is pretty explicit. If you do not work in public safety, your management can enforce their attendance policy but will end up having to back down if anyone complains. In this case, management will most likely not seek punitive measures for absences. If you work in public safety - you are expected to attend and it is likely your employer (e.g. fire department, road comission, hospital, etc) will have fortified transportation methods to assist your trip. Having said all of the above, keep in mind that management has to get the work done. Some people have serious attendance issues even in the best of circumstances and are often fail to show up for the weakest of excuse. Most managers and most employees do not fall in the unreasonable groups and those managers and employees who are not reasonable end up not remaining on the payroll. If you have a very good attendance record and you have seriously severe weather followed by serious state of emergency declarations that prohibit (not suggest against, prohibit) your travel for your job type, you have nothing to worry about. On the other hand, if you have a really bad attendance record, it has gotten that way due to miserable performance on your part and your own miserable attendance record will ultimately be your undoing. Management did nothing more than enforce its own policies as it is to do.
Can an employer punish an employee for missing work, due to a court date?
The only “court date” for which an employer is legally required to allow you to take time off without penalty is jury duty. This does not mean they must pay you. Some states require employers to pay employees for jury duty, many do not.Otherwise, there are no laws in the U.S. specifically requiring an employer to grant you time off without consequence. The “rules” for a court date are based on standard practice and the company’s policies as published in its employee manual pertaining to time off.Typically an employee is expected to give an employer some notice of his or her intent to take time off for any purpose, and this would apply to a court date equally.At the risk of sounding facetious, an employer cannot physically compel an employee to come to work or remain at work under any circumstances. Obviously, if you have a court date, you do not want to miss it. The penalties, depending on what you’re going to court for, can range from fines to dismissal of the case (if you are the plaintiff) to jail time, so you should go regardless of your employer’s policies.All an employer is obligated to do is treat you equally with all other employees and in accordance with written policies. You can generally use personal time off (PTO) or vacation time for a court date, but you cannot use sick time (if your company separates this from PTO.)If your employer feels you have not given adequate notice, or that the amount of time you are taking off is excessive, or they are simply unwilling to deal with your absence, they are generally within their rights to terminate your employment. (This depends on whether you have an employment agreement and whether your company and/or state have an “At Will” employment environment.)You should ask your company HR representative to be sure.
Employer said I am a liability and I cannot work while in a walking boot?
I am willing to bet you are not even 18 so there are no papers you can sign, but even if you are 18 or older and there was some paper you could sign; that would be a rather stupid thing to do..... being in the boot, working in a fast paced business, with floors that are not always the easiest to walk on, there is a real good chance you may slip and may injure yourself (much worse), or you may injure someone else... it is never a good idea to sign away rights or protections, and in this case the agreement would not stand up in court, you can not sign way the protections that are provided by labor laws and/or workers compensation insurance requirements (and the employer knows that)... you signing away certain protections and accepting responsibility for yourself would not protect the employer if you caused an injury or some other harm to another employee or a customer. you need to take the required time to heal, follow all medical orders, and when you are able to you can go back to work. EDIT: let me be perfectly clear; the employer does NOT have to provide modified work for you even if you have doctors orders... if you can not do the job for any reason they do not have to allow you to work. if they have any concerns about your safety, the safety of others, or the risk of liability to the company they do not have allow you to work... you could have a doctors note that releases you completely and has NO restrictions, the fact that you are in the walking boot is a serious safety concern and they do not have to allow you to work while wearing it.
Can you get unemployment if you quit cause your pregnant?
No you can't
What to do if an employer schedules you outside your availability? (New employee)?
Be prepared to walk. I remember when people couldn't hire competent workers fast enough. This is not one of those times. You need to figure your cause and effect on this issue. I agree that you should restate to the supervisors that you had a schedule based on your expectations and their understanding of your circumstance. If you did not make your circumstances known at the time of interview, it is your fault and they should do what ever is best for the business. But if you were up front with them they should respect that. However, respect doesn't necessarily get the job done and you can probably be replaced with little effort. So do you need the job to go to school? Set your priority based on necessity. But as I said before prepare to walk.
Can an employer send you home early without paying the rest of your shift hours?
Unfortunately, the employer can send you home without paying you because you haven't worked those hours. If your wages are salary based, then that's a different story. But if you are working on an hourly rate, then they can send you home without paying you. Maybe if you asked your supervisor if you could pick up extra hours in a different environment because the survey thing isn't really your bread and butter? Good luck!
If you found out that your best employee smoked marijuana on his or her free time, would you fire that employee? Let’s say that you lived in a country where marijuana is illegal. Also, it would dramatically impact the company to lose such a person.
“If you found out that your best employee smoked marijuana on his or her free time, would you fire that employee?” [Let’s say that you lived in a country where marijuana is illegal and discovered that your top performing employee had that drug in his or her system. Also, it would dramatically impact the company to lose such a person. Would you say that the best decision is to fire that person? Why or why not?]My Problem.As an employer, you cannot allow illegal activities on your work floor, so I’d fire any employee engaging in illegal activities. Alcohol and drug use at work cannot be tolerated, and not just because someone’s performance might be linked negatively to the alcohol or drug, but also because an employer is bound to make sure that employees comply to the rules covered by the company insurance. Many insurance companies refuse claims when the employee had caused damage or injury while under the influence.Which is something you have no knowledge about, because whatever an employee does in his free time is their business. You attend everyone on being alcohol and drug free on the work floor, so that if an employee turns out to be under the influence, that’s on their head.And here’s my problem. I live in The Netherlands, where cannabis use is not illegal and I have a prescription from my ophthalmologist to use pharmaceutical cannabis as medication for my therapy resistant glaucoma. I’ve been denied further disability benefits because the government decided that I can still work. Except that I can’t, beccause I cannot hid my cannabis use from my employer. And even if my particular use does not affect my judgment, I’d be uninsured as an employee ‘under the influence of a narcotic drug’. So I can only imagine how they’d respond to a claim where the employee was under the influence of an illegal drug.