Originally shared in some trans subreddits and also advised to share in a legal one, no real response since I slept and I have work in a couple hours so I'll post this here and hopefully get something from it.
So I'm a trans fem overnight cashier at a gas station in Texas and fairly recently started dressing fem at work including skirts and dresses and hats with rainbow hearts etc, full time the last couple of weeks and using a fem name on paper work (Cynthia, mostly shortened to Cyn though) including correcting on posted schedules, but didn't explicitly tell management anything… Was occasionally wearing some religious shirts (not Christian) as well before transitioning to more fem attire. Nothing had officially been said to this point.
They've now required a uniform shirt, they had a list up awhile back asking for sizes and how many but didn't list any actual price. I've since learned the first was provided for free, I only got one because, well no price plus I didn't like the idea in general 🤷. I used some iron on letter sheets to write my name on the back, because I was told we'd be paying for it and thus it was ours plus it's my name… and I've tossed it on top of a dress a few times.
And now last night there was left out a two page code of conduct with places to sign and date (for both employee and manager, unsigned), for each employee with names (my old name obviously). While I think it's mostly legal (except number 6 specifically) and there's not much I can do, and it's not as bad as it could be for me, I did want to share and get what advice I could.
It starts with some general stuff about how rules are necessary and people work best when valued as individuals and acknowledged as part of a team lol and says
“Management will exercise discretion in the area of disciplinary action”.
It then has a list of 42 “examples” of “employee misconduct, which the Company regards as extremely serious, and which will ordinarily lead to termination without prior counseling or progressive discipline.”
Including (not everything or exactly unless quoted)
- theft
- loitering of friends or family
- “maintain a professional demeanor at all times”
- unauthorized tardiness (5 minutes)
- giving out employee or owner information
- “you may not discuss hourly wages with anyone other than
“ - it is your responsibility to cover your shift first then communicate with management
- making a purchase must be done on the customer side of the register
- no ringing up immediate family
- selling to minors, keeping certain amounts of cash in the till
- agreeing that if you are short x amount over the month it can be deducted from your paycheck
- drive offs from authorizing a pump can be deducted
- “Your safety is very important to us, […] lift with your legs, not your back, you must be able to lift 50 lbs […] Use proper signs when mopping etc.”
- Employees must complete their job duties before clocking out and must be done on schedule
- All documents must be completely and accurately completed
- 1 smoke break every 3 hours not to exceed 5 minutes, only 1 employee at a time (“By law we do not have to allow breaks”), you must stay busy between customers
- Cell phones must remain in back or in your pocket on silent, you may only wear one earbud at a time. “If there are no customers around you may [missing word is missing] your phone quickly. However, you are not allowed to play games or spend several minutes at a time on your phone. If you abuse this freedom, you will be banned from bringing your phone to work.”
- Dress code requiring uniform shirt and allowing jeans, pants, slacks, capris, knee shorts, “no athletic apparel, no offensive/inappropriate drawings or sayings, no short shorts, no skirts, no dresses, … no revealing or inappropriate clothing, no extreme hair colors or styles, no extreme accessories/stickers, etc., that promote political, religious, or any other controversial matters.”
Pretty sure 6 is straight up illegal with the NLRA allowing you to discuss wages and preventing it actually running the risk of title vii lawsuits, but maybe not worth suing over on it's own…
But some really aren't even code of conduct but rather paycheck deduction agreements shoehorned in.
All of these are under the examples of “extremely serious, and which will ordinarily lead to termination” paragraph… Which as you can imagine is complete BS and several of these are violated constantly by many if not most employees, and others have told me management has explicitly said they're well aware breaks in particular get abused and don't care… Until someone complains and then everyone pretends to for a day or two before we go back to not caring. I haven't been told such directly however, I've only worked nights and management is essentially never on site at night.
So… Advice? I don't intend to sign this as is… Due to 6, 11 and 12 specifically, but not going to intentionally violate the dress code either even if it'd be really nice to continue wearing dresses…
I am somewhat concerned about what happens if I'm fired for refusing to sign it however… I feel like I'd have some grounds for doing so since 6 is illegal and 11 and 12 are entirely separate from basic rules of conduct like phone usage, breaks, and dress code.
Sorry for the length, if I had more time and knowledge I'd have shortened it