Month: April 2022

Heyall, I don't believe in and am not interested in continuing to work full-time. I don't like my employer having so much control over my time. It seems unnatural to me. There's more to life, like traveling, going camping, hobbies, spending time with family and friends, reading, sleeping, meditating, and just sitting around and being. I work full-time right now, but I have the opportunity to shift to part time, which I will very likely do. I live in NYC, which is exploitively expensive, but I have no debt, very cheap rent, and am naturally frugal for the most part. I can swing it financially, but of course won't have as much disposable income. But I'll have what I need for the foreseeable future. I'm a psychologist and have a wide experience and skill set (I've taught, done research, professional speaking, therapy, consulting) and already do some of this stuff…

I just started this job in January, and thought the lower paychecks were because I had to take a pay cut to come here. I mentioned it to my coworker and she casually mentioned that they take an automatic half hour out of each day that I don't clock out for a break. Which I know is super illegal. Yesterday I mentioned it to another coworker and he confirmed that it's policy here and that the higher ups say if you don't have time for a break write it down in the missed punch book, but I was never informed of this when I started. Does having a place to write it down negate the illegality of taking my hours? I was missing five hours on my last check, and they took them all out of one week, which I can tell, because I should have had a few hours…

I’ve been constantly belittled by coworkers and management for weeks now and I finally had enough. For context, I signed up for the overnight shift, which means I’m my own shift and I don’t get a break. It’s hard but it’s an extra $17 and hour, or is at least supposed to be. Since I started overnights I’ve found it really difficult. My series of tasks is on an hourly schedule at this gas station, which means that if a crackhead with a forehead tattoo wastes 20 minutes of my time talking about Joe Biden and gas prices, now I’m behind with making the cookies. So sometimes on Friday or Saturday nights I have to leave some of the less important things undone because I refuse to work for free and my store has a policy that I’m not allowed to spend even an extra fifteen minutes clocked in. Enter…

Discussion in /r/socialwork here and here. I know social work is not unique in this – teaching and academia share similar problems. And unpaid internships are offered in almost every industry. But for background: To receive a social work degree from an accredited social work program in the United States, a minimum of 400 hours of internship labor is a degree requirement to graduate with a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW). For a Master of Social Work (MSW) the minimum is 900 if you don't have a BSW, though many programs require 1000+. It's not a situation like business school where internships are highly recommended to get ahead so most students do them if they can. “Just don't accept them!” some say. But these internships are for academic credit (which really means we are PAYING to do an unpaid internship). You simply cannot graduate without your hours. Nearly all of…

I am currently in graduate school for a healthcare profession where we are required to complete several externships to accrue hours to meet graduation requirements and be eligible for our necessary licenses to practice after graduation. Every single externship we complete is unpaid, and we are expected to work the exact same hours as our supervisor. If our supervisor works 50 hours within a week, which definitely happens, we are expected to as well. If they come into work on a day they usually do not work, we have to as well. Not only this, we are still required to complete graduate level classwork. We are not allowed to miss any days at our externship site. Although we do not see a dollar, our supervisors are allowed to bill for each session even if the student, as expected, is doing all the work of planning and conducting therapy. I am…

For context, I have been with this company for about 5 years (retail). For those years, I have worked afternoons for 20-30 hours a week as a casual, which I liked. They asked me if I would like trying to work mornings as they thought I would fit a specific position that someone had just left. I said yes to trying it out, so I did 2 shifts in it and quickly told my manager I would like to go to back to my old position because I just wasn't comfortable with the work, – [anxiety flaring up (given tasks which are impossible in the time/ tasks I don't really know how to do), hate mornings and my entire social life is only at work with the workmates I work with in the afternoons.] They understood, but nothing happened. The next day I told another manager, and he said that…

As an American, do we have any rights when it comes to being sick? My manager says I need a Doctors note because today would be a 3rd day this week I'm calling out. Now if the job offered me insurance I would love to go see a doctor but they don't offer insurance. Is it legal to make me get a doctors note that I really can't afford?