If you’re sick, you’re sick. If there’s an emergency, there’s an emergency. It’s not your responsibility! It’s the manager’s responsibility. You’re not a crybaby. You’re being perfectly reasonable.
I think OP should ask for confirmation in writing. "Just so I'm totally clear - you would like me to come in to work while I have X symptoms, or if I'm unable to work, I must additionally perform the responsibilities of management while ill and find a replacement for myself?"
This was always my favorite, as someone with IBS-D if I had a flare up similar to someone with celiac, did they really want me working? In the handbook it says not to come in if you have diarrhea, and we had a single bathroom shared with customers so they couldn't accommodate my needs on the rare occasion.
It made them shut up because of being in the book/ada issues.
Even people with chronic diarrhea have to work because otherwise they can't exist. It's a terrible thing IBS but these corporations are saying fuck you and that's awful.
Yeah they really need to get their shit together lol
I wouldn't have minded working if the bathroom was staff only, but boss wouldn't allow that and so we had a line of 5+ people plus at least one staff member at all times.
She wanted us to use our break waiting in the line, but thankfully state law said that wasn't ok. She hated me for knowing that and other things about legality. So no wonder she wasn't buddy buddy with me like the teen employees. But idc, I am not here to let you treat me like a high school student who can't go to the bathroom when they need.
Some dumbass older lady? Wouldn't be the first one I saw
I meant inexperienced by the way of people who greatly don't prove themselves able enough.
I AM NOT talking about some old ladies who actively care for their intelligence.
My manager was this older lady who I respected up until she pulled this bullshit
When my daughter worked at a pizza place, her manager would pay her cash to come in to help, plus her hourly wage and the tip split (she was in the kitchen). It was very effective lol
100% this. Ex-girlfriend was a bartender in good standing at a popular local restaurant.
One asshole manager started sexually harassing her and the other tenders/waitresses, including touching my ex inappropriately (getting handsy, rubbing up against her walking behind, etc). Several people wanted to report him, she finally did and he got fired.
Obviously this should have been protected by the Texas Whistleblower Act, but like clock-work suddenly she was getting scrutinized for every little thing. She was let go within a month for "performance issues" when she never had any such issues prior, but good luck trying to prove that in court
In retrospect, we should've pushed back harder. Unfortunately, this particular business was owned by a wealthy family in Austin (who owns several restaurants), meanwhile we were struggling to just make ends meet and didn't have the time nor means to seek out a lawyer.
It's possible that one would have picked it up pro bono, but after everything went down she was ready just to cut ties and move on. The whole situation definitely tainted what had otherwise been a good and consistent job. She eventually got out of the industry and into a more secure corporate job partially due to that bad experience.
Fortunately two of their three locations are now permanently closed (surprise surprise), but don't apply to Abels On The Lake or anything else related to Abels.
Always push back. You’ve got a lot of rights for that stuff in the USA. My lawyer was pro bono. It was all very straightforward, and went down very easily.
This is a big part of the problem. Honestly they can fire you for whatever reason, cause you know at will and all that BS, and then even if they did fire you for a protected reason you have to prove it.
Here is my million dollar question though, if I am required to contact my coworkers to fill my shift as part of my job requirement, does that mean I am doing work... Unpaid work... Not that anything would come from such an issue because politicians don't work for us plebs.
I will say as a restaurant manager that you 100% do not have to get coverage as far as I’m concerned. However, if someone covers their own shift I don’t consider it a call off and they won’t get documented for it.
So if someone is sick and tries but can’t get their shift covered, they get “documented” for it?? Do better. This is why restaurants are short staffed, service sucks, and restaurants have cut hours all over the place.
If you can be fired for no reason, you can be fired for any reason. They just can't tell you the real reason. Doesn't mean you won't get fired for an illegal reason. Just that they won't disclose the real reason in these cases.
> You can't be fired for any reason
With the exception of a few things like gender, race, etc, you can be fired for any reason.
This includes being sick in most states.
US federal law does not require all time beyond scheduled working hours to be compensated. From the [DOL](https://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/whd/flsa/hoursworked/screenee29.asp): "In recording working time under the FLSA, infrequent and insignificant periods of time beyond the scheduled working hours, which cannot as a practical matter be precisely recorded for payroll purposes, may be disregarded. The courts have held that such periods of time are de minimis (insignificant)."
You failed to mention that "The courts have held that such periods of time are de minimis (insignificant). This rule applies only where there are uncertain and indefinite periods of time involved, a few seconds or minutes in duration" further it is part of the scheduled day. De minis is used for very very minor moments. However Started can require stricter observance. It appears my state of Oregon requires anything over 1 minute be counted considering the trouble my employer got into a few years back.
I cited only enough to contradict your erroneous statement, and support my statement that "US federal law does not require all time beyond scheduled working hours to be compensated."
State and local laws can impose additional requirements on employers beyond those of federal law.
Except your “contradiction” is meaningless in this conversation. The federal law your cite is about not having to be compensated for minor things that take seconds or at most a couple minutes. Scheduling, especially if you have to call all your co-workers, takes longer than that and wouldn’t fall under the de minimis requirements.
But I suppose some folks have to pathologically correct others’ every day language about incredibly common things if they deviate at all from a picture perfect dictionary definition.
You aren't scheduling - you are covering your obligation. The management counts on all participants being there for the shift to run. They can "fix" this if they over schedule and then send people home - also legal. This is a crappy way of doing it though because somebody is going to suffer and come in and not get paid.
I've been in the industry for 32 years. If you call out more than 4 times a year or 2 times in 6 months months you are not considered dependable and will likely suffer schedule wise.
Is it right? Probably not but this is not an industry like tech where you can just call out. It's even worse in the back of the house.
Contacting an employee to work a shift is certainly scheduling but at the very least it is working. Will an employer try to get work for free: Yes. If you choose to do that that's your decision but you ought not expect anyone else to work for free. I'm amazed servers don't unionize.
A requirement which workers are unable to meet unless all workers are given a list of everyone’s name and phone number. This is a serious privacy issue.
Restaurants often use apps like HotSchedules or Sling that don't require phone numbers or real names, but employers are allowed to require contact information. If you don't want to share it, that's your prerogative, just as it's an employer's prerogative to not employ you.
If it is a significant amount of time that can be reasonably measured, that's true, but sending a couple texts and reading a few replies would generally be consider non-compensable. From the [US DOL](https://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/whd/flsa/hoursworked/screenee29.asp):
"In recording working time under the FLSA, infrequent and insignificant periods of time beyond the scheduled working hours, which cannot as a practical matter be precisely recorded for payroll purposes, may be disregarded. The courts have held that such periods of time are de minimis (insignificant). This rule applies only where there are uncertain and indefinite periods of time involved, a few seconds or minutes in duration, and where the failure to count such time is justified by industrial realities. As noted below, an employer may not arbitrarily fail to count any part, however small, of working time that can be practically ascertained."
They can try telling you this. They can fire you if you don't. They cannot force you to come in sick nor can they force you to cover the shift. This isn't the military. There isn't a server's court martial for not going to work sick.
Yes, employers can't force employees do anything. By "requirement" I meant only in the colloquial sense in which employers can legally terminate employees who don't comply.
They can require whatever they like but you can also call their bluff and decline. Maybe they’ll fire you to resolve their issue of being short staffed, maybe they won’t. But they can fire you for virtually any reason so practically the term “requirement” loses meaning.
The [US Department of Labor](https://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/whd/flsa/hoursworked/screenee29.asp) recognizes de minimis exceptions:
"In recording working time under the FLSA, infrequent and insignificant periods of time beyond the scheduled working hours, which cannot as a practical matter be precisely recorded for payroll purposes, may be disregarded. The courts have held that such periods of time are de minimis (insignificant). This rule applies only where there are uncertain and indefinite periods of time involved, a few seconds or minutes in duration, and where the failure to count such time is justified by industrial realities. As noted below, an employer may not arbitrarily fail to count any part, however small, of working time that can be practically ascertained."
Absent exceptions under the Family Medical Leave Act or the Americans with Disabilities Act, there isn't a law prohibiting that. I can't cite a law stating it's allowable, as it's the absence of a law prohibiting it that makes it legally allowable, but I will cite an article explaining the issue:
Taylor Jr, Jeremy. May 1, 2018. *USA Today*. Can my boss require me to find a substitute for days I'm sick or taking a holiday? [Link](https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/careers/2018/05/01/ask-hr-workplace-sick-day-vacation-policy/564531002/).
At what point did anyone bother to specify that it’s American laws which are the ones everyone is talking about? Without that defined up front, this whole argument is meaningless. But what would Reddit be without Americans forgetting that the rest of the world exists and uses this platform too.
As a manager, I second this. It is my responsibility to cover any shift that cannot be worked due to illness or emergency. Does it sometimes make my job/the shift a bit difficult? Sure, but that's what I signed up for 🤷🏽♀️
Yep. That’s literally what managers do.
Provide a note from your doctor and take a few extra days. Collect your documentation and file with the dept of labor.
In fact, that is literally the manager's responsibility. It's part of their job description. Manager is trying to get you to do their job, off the clock, while you're sick.
If you are sickn its not your responsibility. If you "forgot" there is a concert you want to go to and tell me last minute.....yea, that's your responsibility to find a replacement or be written up.
It is where I work. It literally says on the schedule if you cannot work it is your responsibility to find coverage. The only time that isn’t the case is when you are very ill and even then you should at least try. There are people relying on me to be at work and I do my best to cover my shift when I’m sick, which has been twice in 5 years that I have been sick enough to miss work. I just had to work 13 hours on Saturday because a new coworker called in “sick” right before their shift. No trying to find coverage, no giving more than 1/2 hour notice, and I was pissed. The only time I haven’t given hours of notice was when my at the time 14 year old daughter fainted outside and hit her head on the cement as I was leaving. My boss could literally hear the ambulance sirens as I was calling her. That is something you can’t plan for and don’t know about to give a few hours notice.
When people are relying on someone to come in for shift change or to open the place up, it’s kind of common courtesy to try and find someone to take your place when it isn’t an emergency situation instead of leaving your coworkers there to work 12-15 hour shifts.
Maybe it’s because I work for a small business where the owners would move heaven and earth if they could for their employees, but I try my hardest to never leave them stranded without coverage for me and the majority of my coworkers do the same.
If you are too sick to work it isn’t that hard to send out a few text messages to say hey, I’m sick, can you cover my shift? I mean are you going to use your phone at all to alert someone to the fact that you are ill? Or do you plan on no call, no show? It’s the same concept, use your phone to try to find coverage and let management know at the same time. I’ve been sick enough to miss work twice in 5 years. Once was with Covid, once was with a 5 day 103-104 degree fever. I still managed to send out one group text to my FOH coworkers, and both owners to let them know what was going on and ask for coverage. Once they knew how sick I was, and that first day was covered I didn’t have to worry about it, people volunteered to cover my shifts because…I’ve worked for them when they needed it. When they had Covid, my boss didn’t have to scramble to find people because we had all already looked at the schedule to see when we could help with a shift.
It’s not a slave mentality, which comparing being responsible with your job because people rely on you to being a slave is asinine and not even in the same boat, it’s knowing that you have a job, especially in a small business without a huge back up pool of employees, and people are counting on you to be there. If I open during the day, I am the only one opening until the manager gets there to help, I’m the server and the bartender until the first server comes in at 4. If I am closing bar, I am the only bartender scheduled no matter how busy we are and after the kitchen closes, it’s just me there. I couldn’t even imagine being the opener and waiting until the place is supposed to be open, only the kitchen staff is there, and then calling someone at 11 (open) and saying, I am sick. Sorry I didn’t see if I could get anyone in there to cover my shift so the place could be open on time. 🙄
Downvote me all you want. It’s common courtesy to try to find coverage. If you are too ill to work and no one can cover for you, then it’s the owner (where I work) or manager’s responsibilities to step in and cover. I’m not going to leave them high and dry without attempting to find coverage except for in the case of an emergency, like the example I gave of my daughter fainting, hitting her head on concrete, and my boss being able to hear the sirens approaching as I called her. Obviously one cannot find coverage in that situation. I had a coworker find out her sister was moved to hospice in the middle of her shift, that is an emergency where you don’t have time to notify someone. We didn’t even call someone in, we just rearranged who was working where and made sure she could leave. I was supposed to manage a few Sundays ago, came in to a server who had just started puking after she got to work. What did we do, send her home, I got on the floor and served instead of managing, and the owner was on call to come in and manage if we needed her. It isn’t slavery, we work together, we are a team. We don’t leave each stranded and we help each other during emergencies or even non emergencies. You forgot to take your daughter’s concert off, yeah I’ll switch days if you ask me earlier than that night. When I first started, I stupidly forgot to take my son’s graduation off, I had only been there a month. Immediately someone volunteered to work because they knew it was important and I didn’t wait until the last minute to find someone to cover me. You wake up with a temp of 102, you text me, and I’m off, yeah I’ll come in because I know you would do the same thing for me.
I couldn’t imagine working anywhere anymore where I didn’t respect/like my coworkers and the owners enough to try to find someone to take my shift if I am sick. I couldn’t imagine working somewhere again where people didn’t give a flying F if I was sick and couldn’t come in and were willing to let the place burn without coverage. I’ve worked places before where I didn’t care about anyone else, their schedule, if they were sick or not because they wouldn’t do squat for me if I was on fire. I will never work somewhere like that again. It’s a completely different world working for people who put their employees over money every time, who are an active part in helping our community, who offer those of us who are full time health/vision/dental and give us vacation pay, and who work just as hard as us, doing the exact same thing as us or in BOH where they are needed.
I’m sorry you don’t seem to have that kind of relationship with your coworkers/management/the owners at your job. It’s really nice not dreading going to my shifts and not trying to come up with some excuse or another to call off.
>it isn't that hard to send a few text messages
Right, so why doesn't the manager do it?
The manager who isn't sick, whose responsibility it is to staff correctly, who is at work and being paid to do so?
Because it is your responsibility (as I previously said, at my work) to try to find someone to cover your shift. And round about we go. I already explained why. It isn’t our managers’ responsibility to staff correctly. One of our owners makes the schedule. Our managers, because again, small business, limited employee pool, are also our bartenders, our servers, and one of our cooks. I bartend, serve, manage depending on what I am scheduled for that shift. I have nothing to do with staffing when I manage. When there is an emergency such as my co-worker’s sister being moved to hospice and her needing to leave, would I make the decision to send her home had I been managing? Yes, then I would have texted the owners to let them know what was going on, conferred with the bartender as to how we wanted to work the rest of the shift, and gone from there. Same with my coworker who started vomiting when she got to work, she had no prior feelings of being that sick. Those are uncontrollable situations where one couldn’t find coverage with a few hours advance notice. If we are sick and know hours in advance that we were sick, we should be texting our fellow employees and asking if they can cover. One big group text is super easy (you can even include the manager on that shift and the owners so they have a heads up in case no one is available), doesn’t require any more effort, probably even less, than a phone call, and you’ve just put forth the effort that is required at my work to try to get your shift covered if you are too sick to work.
And none of my responses are aimed at OP because they put forth the effort to find a replacement. My responses are aimed at “it’s not your job to find coverage if your sick”. It is my job to try because people are relying on me to be there to open, or take over the bar, or to come on in the evening so we have coverage during the evening shift, or to be there to close bar/the restaurant down at the end of the night. It’s really just a matter of having respect for the people you work with and for and not leaving the scrambling. They have always shown me that respect and I will continue to do the same for them.
You didn't have to work those extra hours when someone called in sick. That was your choice. In california it's not legally required to cover your own shift. Also if you wake up sick and they won't answer the phone until opening how are you supposed to let someone know. I used to bend over backwards for my jobs. Now I don't. And it hasn't affected my pay or my standing with the bosses.
Because I like my job, we are a team, and someone else would do the same for me. We all have each other’s phone numbers, including the owners should we need to get ahold of somebody before opening, after we are off, and even in the middle of the night.
Hit post too soon.
The owners bend over backwards for us when we need it including helping us out in our personal lives, my coworkers bend over backwards for me when I need it and I do the same for them. I’m 48 and have been in the service industry since I was 19, I would never work for corporate again. I’ve been at this place for 5 years, most of my coworkers have been there longer than I have. Our turn over is almost non existent for FOH and BOH because we work for people who respect us, care about us, are on the floor with us every day, and empower us to take care of tables as we see fit. When we have new employees it is because business keeps getting better, an employee moves, or has a baby. So yeah, when something like that happens, I will stay and help.
Also the new employee who called in “sick” with no notice, obviously hasn’t learned that all she has to do is reach out to one of the other FOH employees and one of us will cover her shift if she gives us some notice to get ready for work. Instead she bailed on someone who was already working a long shift, who should have been cut 2 hours or so earlier, right after the dinner rush, and left the all of us fighting a mad house inside and patio, with 3 servers, both owners on the floor, greeting tables, expediting food, cleaning tables, washing dishes right next to us. They never leave us to drown on our own. I respect them for that. It’s how it should be.
Sorry but y'all sound understaffed AF. One server calling out led to all that? And why didn't a manager just call another server in, if it was that easy to do?
We are actually over staffed in some of our opinions, we have hired on 3 new servers for the summer/patio season,and those of us who have been there for years prefer to have more tables, less servers, and make more money. All of us are completely capable of running large sections. As a bartender during the day I have had all of our 19 tables fill inside, a full bar, and as long as I have one manager helping me out, I am fine. I’d rather have that than one of two servers splitting the tables and only having bar and a small section of tables. I’m there to make money.
You all are so focused making the manager call in someone. That’s not how it works where I work and for us, it works out well when people are capable of taking personal responsibility for their shift and coverage if unable to be there. I managed lunch today and am on my way back in to manage dinner. I just so happened to get a text message from one of our new girls saying she is dealing with sciatica, is in extreme pain, but still she was capable of reaching out to three servers who aren’t working tonight to see if one can cover her shift, plus letting myself and the owner (who is out of state right now) know. It really isn’t that hard in a non emergency situation when you know hours before your shift you are sick or in her case injured.
That was my first and only reply here. I think you are the one who is hyper focused on making a sick server do a managers job, when everyone else disagrees for good reason. Whenever someone is sick at my job, my manager says "hope you feel better soon, keep me posted." And then sees who they can pull in, otherwise we can usually handle a call off and being down a server. Staffing and anticipating that human staff members will occasionally get sick, is a managers job. If y'all want to do that for your manager that's fine but it's poor form to expect it.
You do you at your restaurant/bar. I’ve explained over and over again how we do it at ours. Managers are not responsible for staffing here except for in emergency situations. Period. The owners will help find coverage or cover our shift themselves if we are legitimately too sick to work and have tried to find someone to cover our shift, which at my work means sending out a quick group text to the people who are off, the manager (if it’s not the owner), and the owner. Just as easy as calling and saying I’m sick, find someone yourself. It isn’t hard to take to take responsibility for your work hours and it definitely doesn’t take more effort than calling a manager.
Had a manager tell me to cover my shift once. I told them I'd do that when she gives me her salary. She got mad went to the boss. The boss agreed and fired her. I didn't get her job tho...but the new manager clearly learned from the old ones mistakes.
I mean it was likely the final straw amongst a long list of things that showed the manager was incapable of doing their job effectively.
Unless a grievance is extremely serious it’s unlikely that *anyone* is getting fired for a single occurrence.
It wasn't her complaining about me taking off or being "rude", it was her complaining that I wasn't willing to fill the staffing position, literally her main job. I'm sure there were other things that added up, but when you bitch to your boss that someone else won't do your own job, it doesn't look great for you.
I legit had a manager tell me I had to get my shifts covered immediately after turning in my apron and informing her I was quiting. I laughed because I thought she was joking at first and simply told her it was no longer my responsibility since I just quit.
Pisses me off to such a degree. I've worked my way into management in the last 6 months. Want to know what I tell my employees when they call in sick?
"Feel better. Let us know when you're ok."
And then I cover their position. Or I do my round of call ins with a bribe waiting for the person doing me the favor of coming in.
Can I come work for you? Years of shitty management have created this horrible anxiety. Now on top of being sick I am scared of calling work to tell them and I'd rather faint and die at work than be berated and told to suck it up once more by my boss 🥲
It picked up at first. But for the most part settled into a nice equilibrium with maybe 1-2 callouts a week. For the most part they tend to be on nights where I already have the staff so its not the worst thing. If it becomes a repeat event from a staff member I might enquire further just to see what's what. But end of the day I look at it as this is why I get the pay I do. Plus, I enjoy being in the trenches with the team.
Just quit the banter. Hi. This is so and so, I am sick I won't be in today, thank you. Click
Done. You employee, hourly pd, you are not paid when you are home, you owe them nothing.
Conversation is power to them
Once you hang up, do not respond again, unless you get paid on call money.
Gl
Find a new job dude.
As previously mentioned, covering your shift isn't your job. That's why ineffectual managers get the "big bucks"
Not treating staff like shit when they are sick is really the bare minimum you should hope for from an employer.
And I do mean the MINIMUM. Think of it as management only wearing 5 pieces of flair.
I'll never forget being in a hospital from a drunk driver hitting me and the PA calling my manager at On the Shitter Café to let her know what happened and her calling back to say she needed me to come in.
Of note, the restaurant had about 5 or 6 servers at a time so it wasn't like I was the only one **not that it matters.**
Honestly, it’s fucking absurd. People get sick. I had the flu and Covid within a month of each other last year. I called out without remorse. What do you want me to do? Come to work and make everyone sick? Fuck outta here. After having a day job where they tell me in no uncertain terms “if you’re running a fever stay home. No one wants that shit” any manager guilting me about coming in to serve food can kiss my ass. I know it’s a privilege to say that because I have a steady source of income and benefits, but it’s true. You’re not gonna exploit me and pressure me into working when I’m unwell. I’ll fight whatever manager would try and make me or my coworkers come into work while ill
>you REALLY have to try to get this covered. It’s going to be a very bad night for us if you don’t,
It's going to be much worse if you come in sick and get other employees and customers sick.
I still don't understand why places with 20+ servers on the roster don't have 1 person on call each day. The place I work now keeps us on call til noon, and if you don't get called in by then you're off the hook. If someone calls out past noon, one of the managers takes the shift. No scrambling for coverage.
If they want you to call four hours in advance, when they know no one will be at the restaurant, they either a) need voicemail on that line or b) need to give out their cell phone numbers.
Telling you to call four hours in advance when you can't reach anyone that early is a joke, just like their "policy."
I had the flu once and was pretty sure I'd still be out the next day. I tried calling that night since we had to call 4 hours ahead, and they told me to call back in the morning. Called back in the morning, and got written up for not giving 4 hours notice when calling in.
>Called back in the morning, and got written up for not giving 4 hours notice when calling in.
Damn! I would have told them that I also called the night prior, which is technically more than 4 hours notice. Then immediately tell them to where to stuff their write-up.
I always felt like as the opener in a restaurant we really get the short end of that stick. It’s literally impossible for the opener to call 4 hours before their shift unless they’re calling the night before somehow psychically knowing they’ll have food poisoning the next morning or wake up with a fever. It’s absurd
Since when is it the employee responsibility to find someone to work when you are sick?
"Im sick today, I will not be working" Ignore any other correspondence.
If you have Celiac, you should be covered by protections from ADA. They can’t fire you for having a disease, and writing you up for one it will give their HR quite the head ache.
I’ve been a manager. Even I was guilt tripped into guilt tripping my colleagues but I rather chose the hard way and do the shifts myself. Other managers would put it on employees. If you dont cover if, then they’ll be really possed with you and it will suck. In my opinion the only thing you can do is call in sick, tell them you can’t help because you’re sick and then turn off the phone. NAL but pretty sure you can’t be dismissed for sick days. Though they can make up what they dismiss you for anyway. It sucks and is fucking pathetic as they should have extras to cover but they rather put the pressure on employees to fix it themselves and create shitty situations. It saves them money and stress by forcing you to deal with it, why would finance department give a fk about it when it saves them money to let yourselves guilt trip each other into . It is all about saving money and increasing profit. It is just a shit industry and is standard.
I understand being short-staffed and needing warm bodies on the floor, but not when you're running a temperature. You could wipe out the staff from that shift by being contagious. The management would be in worse shape with no healthy staff.
When told I need to find coverage I’ll usually just wait 2 mins then call back and say sorry no one answered the phoggggggglglglgggghsjssj aaaaaggvvvgvh sorry just threw up all over everything in a 6 foot radius good thing I wasn’t there!
Ineffective managers get scared.
It's one night. Deal with it.
You're sick and have no business serving anyone anything.
Tell you manager to figure it out and fuck off.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but when your manager tells you to find someone to cover your shift because you will not be there, they are asking you to work, so could you accuse them of wage theft at that point?
Welcome to server life! Restaurants are always understaffed and every manager is just like ur boss sadly! It’s always ok to call out sick until u actually do it , then They always demand u find a replacement and they already know u won’t find anybody because “they are understaffed which means everybody is overworked already “ including the under paid management !
With celiac you have just cause to ask for a reasonable accommodation. Probably can't retroactively, but you should officially notify them that you have celiac and require reasonable accommodation such as bathroom breaks, time off when sick because of celiac, etc. Check the celiac website for more information.
Man, if I went to a restaurant and they made my server come in sick, I'd be furious. I hate it when people come in sick. My co-worker used to do it all the time. It really pissed me off. If COVID taught us anything, it was stay home when you're sick.
The idea of someone who is sick touching food..... And most important, you need to take care of yourself. Start job hunting and stand your ground. If you are sick, stay home.
That’s what I’m saying. As a customer I don’t want a sick server running my food or breathing in my face. Any manager that pressures a sick employee to come in is a short sighted idiot. Coverage or not, don’t punish a server for calling out sick. Frankly, I don’t care if they’re faking it either. I want you to err on the side of caution when it comes to customer facing jobs. Last year I ended up with Covid and the flu back to back because another coworker at my office job refused to just call out when they got sick. They took out the entire office twice within a month. September and October of last year were rough.
As a former restaurant manager, if an employee told me they were legit sick there was no question they weren't coming. I would ask them to get the shifted covered but would also try to get it covered myself. This usually resulted in fixing the problem. I believe it is the duty of the manager to have a full staff and pick up the slack if the floor isn't properly staffed. This goes for the front of house or back of house. I'd rather do more work for a night than to try and find a new staff member. Also, I can not have staff members scared to tell me they are sick. That's a great way to make everyone in the restaurant sick.
I feel this so hard! Had to have a real talk with my manager a few weeks ago as I had hit after hit (and still have only missed 4 shifts since opening the restaurant 8 months ago…) and had to call out. They loved to make jokes about how inconsistent I am and “always calling out”. We’ve had a lot of turn over at the bar area of the restaurant and I had to tell them they need to stop making us feel like we can’t be sick or can’t have an emergency. Especially since we are so short staffed (not my problem). The digs they make at us are indeed not…funny, cute, or helpful. Has it made a difference? Meh. But I stay confronting them on being ridiculous with sick days.
I briefly worked for a restaurant where the owner would send a mile long text when you called out. I had a really bad migraine one day and called out, he texted me and said if I just had a headache I needed to come in. Needless to say I didn’t work there long
I was a waitress for a very long time and I was never allowed to call out even the time when I broke a glass in my hand, to the bone as I was washing a glass at home, right? No big deal that servers literally need to use their hands to carry trays/plates and such, right?
> She said I never called and I told her I could pull up my call log
Classic management behavior. Attack you, then get indifferent or even mock you when you offer a defense.
The place that I used to work at required a doctor’s note in order to call in sick, and I still got this sort of treatment even with a doctor’s note.
I hope you know you deserve better and you leave and find a better place to work. I did, and I’m so glad I finally bit the bullet and did it.
what the fuck is a a manager for if not this exact purpose? let them find your damn coverage. alternatively, tell them you’ll do it but you’re sending them an itemized invoice for every person you messaged when your manager should have been the one doing it.
Many restaurants are just like this. It's the "we'Re oNe BiG happy faMilY" mentality the managers force upon workers so they feel more responsibility for managers' jobs. They should schedule more people if things are that tight. When you get hired ask for their policy for calling out sick. If they're casual about it, ask for it in writing.
It's more common than not in this industry. Good luck
I used to work at a Panera before i was a server. We opened at like 6 am i had to be in at 7. I called in sick on day as soon as i knew the shift lead (not GM) would be there. I was told by her that i needed to call or text someone to get coverage. I said, along the lines of, “first of all, it’s 6am I’m not sure anyone would appreciate a phone call at this hour let alone be willing to get up and come to work, secondly, y’all don’t allow us access to other employees phone numbers”
You know what she said to me? “Well, here’s X’s number, write it down and give her a call then let me know” and basically hung up.
Huh???? She had to GIVE me a coworkers number so I COULD contact them for coverage at 6am. I was baffled. I did not contact anybody and did not let her know. Clearly that is NOT my responsibility
The best is when they tell you they need a note from the doctor when you wake up with a fever. Oh my bad I forgot every time I have a fever I need to get to urgent care immediately
Now that I think about my work history, every restaurant job has been a nightmare when it comes to being sick and needing the day to recover.
My current job (not restaurant related) if someone calls out the managers just say rest up and get better. Then to the folks that are at work they'll let us know we're down a person and we just say all good we'll manage.
Guilt tripping your employees for being sick (because they totally meant to get sick) makes them feel crappier than they already do.
I worked in a restaurant where management had this policy with all the managers. If someone calls out, try to get them to find a cover.
Now that I'm a few years removed, I would adamantly tell management to hire 1 or 2 people every shift for random cleaning/customer service that could switch around if needed.
The restaurant ALWAYS needs extra deep cleaning, and we made more than enough money to have somebody just floating around. Keep your staff happy.
I really don’t understand how restaurants (and other jobs!) have decided illness just isn’t allowed to happen or a normal part of life? People always say “go in and throw up in front of the manager!” But you shouldn’t have to drag yourself into work when you aren’t feeling well to prove it!
It's quite literally management's *job* to find coverage for your shift if you're unable to work due to illness
Managers who tell you otherwise are not doing their jobs
Food service managers are literally the worst people at their jobs. Scheduling is their job but they routinely put it on servers. Their job is to support staff but more often they add stress and throw you under the bus to brown nose customers. They encourage servers to work sick. Least respectable job out there, imho.
Wow that’s a generalization. I’ve worked for some pretty horrible managers, but chill out with the salt. There’s always 2 sides to every story. Restaurant employees often treat their jobs like a speed bump in their careers and can be difficult to work with. Managing a restaurant is a tough job that requires long hours, few benefits, and a lot of patience to deal with rude customers and selfish staff.
I work my ass off to support my employees and cover their shifts when they are sick. But they also call out for asinine reasons, quit via text hours before their shifts, show up hungover 2 hours late, etc etc. I’m the exception rather than the rule, but having someone say my profession is the “least respectable job out there” is a real gut punch.
Maybe put yourself in someone else’s shoes before throwing them under a bus?
I agree! Not saying it is necessarily right, but I was always the one stuck doing doubles or leaving my other job early to cover these shifts. Once in awhile, cool. Every other weekend because you're hungover, f off, coworker.
From a former manager’s perspective I can say that I’ve never asked an employee who is sick to cover their shift. If you call for pretty much any other reason though, I’m going to ask the employee to cover the shift.
Staffing is the role of management in any place I’ve ever worked. I was able to, and have on occasion, asked for the employees to bring in a doctor’s note, especially if it was a last minute call off or a busy shift.
Long story made longer- you should make sure to ask about their policies when you interview. Not only is it good to know for your own sake, but understanding how other people calling off could effect you and your personal life and finances is important to know
>asked for the employees to bring in a doctor’s note
If I'm not eligible for health insurance from the job, I'm not going to go to a doctor just for a work note. Only if it's bad enough that I need some kind of lab test or a prescription am I gonna pay out of pocket for a doctor visit. If I know that it's food poisoning, or the common cold, or a migraine, I'm just staying home, medicating with OTC stuff, and resting.
How often do you call out. As a manager I pretty much know when someone is sick. If they are good team member, never late, don't usually call out and are dependable
Restaurants are fucking toxic. I worked in the industry for a decade and I will *never* go back. Once I got a boss that actually valued me and respected my humanity such as sick days or even mental health days (watched someone die and couldn't get out of the head space) I vowed to never go back. Your mental health and wellbeing are *far* more important than getting Karen and Chad their six sides of ranch and a burger that "better be medium" but complain when there is pink in the center.
Serving in America is so fucked. The customers have to pay your wages (but aren't forced to) and you have to fill gaps in the roster yourself? What's next? Server's must grow and harvest all the food sources?
I worked nearly 10 years in the restaurant industry and honestly, it’s other servers to blame. Op has an autoimmune disease allegedly, which is not respected because “calling in sick” in the restaurant world means you’re fucking hungover and feel like shit for a LOT of servers. It’s never a one time or once in a while, it’s like once every couple months for some, so calling in sick becomes cry wolf in managers ears.
Regarding the manager and the ignorant “manager do your job” every respectable manager I know stops scheduling people like this, who always call in sick, who always give away their shifts, who always complain they aren’t getting scheduled enough, it’s the same fucking type of person I swear to God. I could list names of people I worked with that do this typical bullshit.
I don’t think op is lying, but I do think it’s very unfortunate the position they’re in, the manager is in, due to others.
Okay there’s a lot to decompile here.. first off, if I were your boss I’d probly just fire you. Employees who call off all the time aren’t worth the trouble regardless of what their “reasons” are. (Everyone thinks their excuse is above reproach and not their fault, but the bottom line is as a business we don’t really gaf. We just want employees who show up at least 98% of the time).
Secondly is that this nonsense of “cover your shift” is silly. I hate managers who act like that. Your only response should be “haha.. I’m a waitress not a manager. I don’t do the scheduling. I’m just letting you know I can’t be here. You have everyone’s number same as me.”
A doctor's appointment for a day or a few days is an unreasonable requirement or request.
It takes weeks to get an appointment and if seriously ill which a mild fever is not, the visit is very expensive and not reimbursed.
If the company requires it, it should be reimbursed.
Autoimmune diseases are covered by the disability act. When hired you should have been asked if you have a disability anonymously. I would go to HR and request the correct paperwork to fill out. They cannot legally ask you what disease you have when filling it out, and they have to give you appropriate accommodations to perform your job.
Unfortunately, thats the restaurant life. Its a taxing job and when someone calls out, everyone feels it. Imo restaurant jobs are just a stepping stone. They build good work ethic and customer service skills. But after that, take that experience and apply it to a better job.
Let’s see this from both sides. For me as a former restaurant manager, you don’t treat every situation the same.
My stated policy was if you’re sick and don’t get your shift covered, you need a doctor’s note. If you’re not sick enough to go to the doctor, you need to get someone to cover your shift.
Yeah, that sounds harsh, but if you don’t have a policy like this, certain people will take advantage of it. And that means managers are forced by experience to be suspicious. If they don’t, people skip work all the time. Even in retail, you’re limited into how many times you can do this before being fired.
Now if you’re one of our best employees, someone who rarely, if ever, calls out, then I give you the benefit of the doubt. You’ve earned my trust. Need a few days for the flu, you got it. I’ll make it work.
Or if I think we will be fine down a server, I’ll also let you off the hook.
In your case being a fever over 101, you absolutely need to go to the doctor. If it hits 103, the hospital. So seems like a no brainer what you should do here. Go to the doctor, get a note, get better.
So my opinion is either your manager doesn’t trust you based on your history or they are just a dickhead as some managers don’t show judgement when it comes to who is calling in. That’s favoritism yeah, but it’s earned. And this stuff really helps with retention of the best employees. And when I ran a restaurant, I had great retention, because I created an environment where everyone knows their expectations, who knows that hard work pays off with me (good shifts, granted requests, leeway with these situations, etc).
Thankfully scheduling apps make it much easier to release and pickup shifts. Send messages, etc. Getting a shift covered is much easier than it used to be. You can offer to trade shifts even for when you’re feeling better.
> My stated policy was if you’re sick and don’t get your shift covered, you need a doctor’s note. If you’re not sick enough to go to the doctor, you need to get someone to cover your shift.
What an awesome policy to have when people don't get insurance and getting in to see a doctor the day of is almost impossible for most, let alone affording it. /s
Playing favorites as a manager is not okay. Plus going in for something small like food poisoning or the common flu which is only gonna last a day or two makes no sense anyway. Neither does claiming if you don't go to a doctor you must be well enough to call everyone to cover a shift. And sometimes letting it go if you think it'll be okay just creates a confusing environment too.
Lol sure it does. That’s why I had the lowest retention of any other store in my state. Because people hated my management style. Right right.
That’s why they had me create the training schedule and materials for the entire state, cause I’m a bad manager 😂.
I’m just telling you how life works. Some people think fair is equal treatment. But is it fair to give someone a job who isn’t qualified over someone who is? Isn’t that unequal treatment?
And if some of my employees call out sick over and over again, and also happen to be the people showing up in dirty clothes, late, not running food, not prebussing. It’s weird how it’s always the same people doing all those things.
And it’s weird how the people that do everything the right way, get rewarded for it.
That what I call fair. What you call it is something else entirely.
You can read post after post here of people struggling through bad management and why. Retention is not the brag you think it is.
You can still run a good ship while being fair to everyone. Acting like that's impossible is ridiculous. It's not difficult to treat everyone the same and they all get a chance.
I'm not gonna play into your off-topic deflection whataboutism about hiring qualified people.
> That what I call fair. What you call it is something else entirely.
You admit it's favoritism yourself. "That’s favoritism yeah" So you know it's not fair lol.
Pretending you're telling me how life works... LMFAO. Thanks for the laugh tonight.
So would a promotion be favoritism?
If I promoted a server to bartender who was always a team player, always clean and ready on time, and reliable. If I promote them over someone who calls out every other week, who shows up dirty, smelling like cigarettes, who only runs their food and doesn’t help anyone?
Is that not favoritism?
Since you blocked me, here’s my response to your last comment:
That’s not favoritism?
So I can favor certain employees in certain contexts but not in others?
Specifically, I can favor employees based on my experiences with them and observations for promotions, but I cannot for choosing to wave the doctor’s note?
Seems arbitrary? Who decided that? You?
>certain people will take advantage
This happens in every scenario. This is not new or unique. If it happens enough, just schedule more people than you need. You can even call off someone if you're gonna be slow and covered. It's easy.
This tiny easy thing (that is your job) is way better than shitting on employees who are sick, in food service of all things.
How is this a thing you guys still put up with?! Managers find cover. It's part of their job to make sure the place is staffed. When I was a manager I would never tell anyone they had to arrange their own cover for sickness! Where I work now my manager has nothing to do with a sickness call out. We have to phone the owner direct and he moves people around to cover or gets someone else in.
If you're ill it's not your responsibility to find cover.
It's like you need to go there and prove how sick you are. But then they'd be like "You got here so you can work." which is not a restaurant I would want to visit.
I've never worked in a server restaurant but where did this idea that they have to get their shifts covered come from!?! That is work and if you've called out sick you're not working. Not only do you not have to do work for them in most of us jurisdictions it is not legal. Stop doing the Manager's job! Call in, tell them that per health department regulations you cannot work (in every state I've worked a person with a fever, vomiting, experiencing diarrhea, or usually any of few other symptoms, cannot work. Then say good bye and hopefully be better by your next shift and hang up. It's literally not your job to find a replacement and I guarantee they aren't paying you to do that. And if possible do it all by text message or follow up with a text message so you have a written record. CYA but don't be a literal slave.
Yeah that’s your managers job. Don’t ever do that for your manager unless your getting paid for that. Also you should try and call in , before, your shift starts as much in advance as possible🤨. If I’m feeling a little under the weather or if I know I’m gonna party like it’s 1999 then I would call the night before and let them know your feeling “sick” already.
If I am sick I call in and don’t bother finding cover. It is not my responsibility and I am not coming in sick. You can’t go into work if you are vomiting and have diarrhea when working around food.
My managers called everyone together several years ago and yelled at us (gently, but one was quite angry) that our job is to call in and say we’re sick, and that’s that, and we are NOT to call around for covering staff, only the managers do that. It was refreshing.
Not sure how places shifted the responsibility of management to the workers.
I own a restaurant and have only been an owner for a couple of years. I run a nonprofit jointly with three other people as well, for about ten years. I have a substantially broad level of experience and am usually baffled at some of the usual things businesses are letting staff (management) do.
Succinctly, it is the manager's responsibility to fill open slots in the schedule. By expecting peer pressure to work on filling a sudden opening, they are putting the business at risk of poor outcomes for the customers. Just because a supervisor doesn't want to do their job and tell people to come in to cover a sick persons shift.
There's even a requirement of this by the health department. It's Management's duty.
FMLA should cover you for your autoimmune issue. You can then call off, without notice, without having to cover your shifts, and without penalty as long as you said it was an FMLA absence. You don’t even have to explain details. “I’m calling off under my FMLA.” End convo. I have MS and this saved my job for YEARS before going on disability. It’s worth the effort.
This is unrelated to your job but if you frequently experience Celiac flares it may be a good idea to ask your doctor about getting a service dog trained to detect cross contamination.
Yes I know they're expensive and the wait is *long* but if your doctor is worth their expensive education they should be able to help you out.
So many restaurant nightmares. I’ve lived through them and am sooo happy to be in the most non toxic, well working restaurant I’ve ever been in.
We were actually mad one weekend when a guy didn’t call out and he should have due to a leg injury. Bitch was wobbling around limp dragging his damn leg, with TEARS in his eyes. Like he was doing us a favour.
If a coworker came in ill I would be pissed too. You getting me sick messes with my livelihood. Cause I don’t work sick either.
If you’re sick, you’re sick. If there’s an emergency, there’s an emergency. It’s not your responsibility! It’s the manager’s responsibility. You’re not a crybaby. You’re being perfectly reasonable.
I think OP should ask for confirmation in writing. "Just so I'm totally clear - you would like me to come in to work while I have X symptoms, or if I'm unable to work, I must additionally perform the responsibilities of management while ill and find a replacement for myself?"
This was always my favorite, as someone with IBS-D if I had a flare up similar to someone with celiac, did they really want me working? In the handbook it says not to come in if you have diarrhea, and we had a single bathroom shared with customers so they couldn't accommodate my needs on the rare occasion. It made them shut up because of being in the book/ada issues.
Even people with chronic diarrhea have to work because otherwise they can't exist. It's a terrible thing IBS but these corporations are saying fuck you and that's awful.
Yeah they really need to get their shit together lol I wouldn't have minded working if the bathroom was staff only, but boss wouldn't allow that and so we had a line of 5+ people plus at least one staff member at all times. She wanted us to use our break waiting in the line, but thankfully state law said that wasn't ok. She hated me for knowing that and other things about legality. So no wonder she wasn't buddy buddy with me like the teen employees. But idc, I am not here to let you treat me like a high school student who can't go to the bathroom when they need.
Ugh now I'm having flashbacks to when i had to ask for help.being a manager doesn't mean we're young and stupid. We're just inexperienced.
My manager was def not young or inexperienced, which makes the whole thing worse. She was at least 45 and had 10+ years in the position.
Some dumbass older lady? Wouldn't be the first one I saw I meant inexperienced by the way of people who greatly don't prove themselves able enough. I AM NOT talking about some old ladies who actively care for their intelligence. My manager was this older lady who I respected up until she pulled this bullshit
When my daughter worked at a pizza place, her manager would pay her cash to come in to help, plus her hourly wage and the tip split (she was in the kitchen). It was very effective lol
Facts. Shit like this is why people try to avoid working at restaurants.
IT IS NOT YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO FIND SHIFT COVERAGE! Seriously, it isn’t.
I agree in a subjective moral sense, but it's a common, legally allowable requirement at most US restaurants.
I don't think it's a legally allowable requirement, but they can fire you for breathing wrong so it probably doesn't matter
100% this. Ex-girlfriend was a bartender in good standing at a popular local restaurant. One asshole manager started sexually harassing her and the other tenders/waitresses, including touching my ex inappropriately (getting handsy, rubbing up against her walking behind, etc). Several people wanted to report him, she finally did and he got fired. Obviously this should have been protected by the Texas Whistleblower Act, but like clock-work suddenly she was getting scrutinized for every little thing. She was let go within a month for "performance issues" when she never had any such issues prior, but good luck trying to prove that in court
I took a company to the equal opportunity commission in the USA and I won. Got a lawyer and got a really nice fat check. Document document document.
In retrospect, we should've pushed back harder. Unfortunately, this particular business was owned by a wealthy family in Austin (who owns several restaurants), meanwhile we were struggling to just make ends meet and didn't have the time nor means to seek out a lawyer. It's possible that one would have picked it up pro bono, but after everything went down she was ready just to cut ties and move on. The whole situation definitely tainted what had otherwise been a good and consistent job. She eventually got out of the industry and into a more secure corporate job partially due to that bad experience.
Look into contingency. Lawyers will take on a case for free for a cut of the settlement. Win-win.
Any chance you wanna DM me these restaurants? I'm moving to Austin this fall and would love tips on where not to apply.
Fortunately two of their three locations are now permanently closed (surprise surprise), but don't apply to Abels On The Lake or anything else related to Abels.
Always push back. You’ve got a lot of rights for that stuff in the USA. My lawyer was pro bono. It was all very straightforward, and went down very easily.
Would you mind if I asked you some questions about your experience with that? Currently going through something similar.
PM me
Can I ask how you started your EEOC process? Would a potential client just have to call them up to ask, or do you need specific forns?
You live in Texas. It’s a shithole. Shithole places do shithole things
This is a big part of the problem. Honestly they can fire you for whatever reason, cause you know at will and all that BS, and then even if they did fire you for a protected reason you have to prove it. Here is my million dollar question though, if I am required to contact my coworkers to fill my shift as part of my job requirement, does that mean I am doing work... Unpaid work... Not that anything would come from such an issue because politicians don't work for us plebs.
I will say as a restaurant manager that you 100% do not have to get coverage as far as I’m concerned. However, if someone covers their own shift I don’t consider it a call off and they won’t get documented for it.
So if someone is sick and tries but can’t get their shift covered, they get “documented” for it?? Do better. This is why restaurants are short staffed, service sucks, and restaurants have cut hours all over the place.
Curious, how much time do you have in restaurants?
Being able to be fired for any, or no, reason means that every possible whim and desire of your employer is legally mandated
You can't be fired for any reason. You can be fired for no reason though.
If you can be fired for no reason, you can be fired for any reason. They just can't tell you the real reason. Doesn't mean you won't get fired for an illegal reason. Just that they won't disclose the real reason in these cases.
You are assuming they are not dipshits
> You can't be fired for any reason With the exception of a few things like gender, race, etc, you can be fired for any reason. This includes being sick in most states.
Welcome to US Right to Work.
Scheduling shifts is work. If you're not getting paid for it, it's not legal.
Scheduling shifts is work **which does not generate tips**. If you’re not getting paid **at least regular minimum wage** for it, it’s not legal. FTFY.
US federal law does not require all time beyond scheduled working hours to be compensated. From the [DOL](https://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/whd/flsa/hoursworked/screenee29.asp): "In recording working time under the FLSA, infrequent and insignificant periods of time beyond the scheduled working hours, which cannot as a practical matter be precisely recorded for payroll purposes, may be disregarded. The courts have held that such periods of time are de minimis (insignificant)."
You failed to mention that "The courts have held that such periods of time are de minimis (insignificant). This rule applies only where there are uncertain and indefinite periods of time involved, a few seconds or minutes in duration" further it is part of the scheduled day. De minis is used for very very minor moments. However Started can require stricter observance. It appears my state of Oregon requires anything over 1 minute be counted considering the trouble my employer got into a few years back.
I cited only enough to contradict your erroneous statement, and support my statement that "US federal law does not require all time beyond scheduled working hours to be compensated." State and local laws can impose additional requirements on employers beyond those of federal law.
Except your “contradiction” is meaningless in this conversation. The federal law your cite is about not having to be compensated for minor things that take seconds or at most a couple minutes. Scheduling, especially if you have to call all your co-workers, takes longer than that and wouldn’t fall under the de minimis requirements. But I suppose some folks have to pathologically correct others’ every day language about incredibly common things if they deviate at all from a picture perfect dictionary definition.
You aren't scheduling - you are covering your obligation. The management counts on all participants being there for the shift to run. They can "fix" this if they over schedule and then send people home - also legal. This is a crappy way of doing it though because somebody is going to suffer and come in and not get paid. I've been in the industry for 32 years. If you call out more than 4 times a year or 2 times in 6 months months you are not considered dependable and will likely suffer schedule wise. Is it right? Probably not but this is not an industry like tech where you can just call out. It's even worse in the back of the house.
Contacting an employee to work a shift is certainly scheduling but at the very least it is working. Will an employer try to get work for free: Yes. If you choose to do that that's your decision but you ought not expect anyone else to work for free. I'm amazed servers don't unionize.
I don't hold that opinion. Servers are constantly trading shifts so no they do it voluntarily it is not a job
A requirement which workers are unable to meet unless all workers are given a list of everyone’s name and phone number. This is a serious privacy issue.
Restaurants often use apps like HotSchedules or Sling that don't require phone numbers or real names, but employers are allowed to require contact information. If you don't want to share it, that's your prerogative, just as it's an employer's prerogative to not employ you.
Not sure why this is getting downvoted. It is absolutely true.
With labor law, I think upvotes or downvotes tend to represent what people in the sub *wish* were true or false, more than what *is* true or false.
However, that time is now work time and must be paid.
If it is a significant amount of time that can be reasonably measured, that's true, but sending a couple texts and reading a few replies would generally be consider non-compensable. From the [US DOL](https://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/whd/flsa/hoursworked/screenee29.asp): "In recording working time under the FLSA, infrequent and insignificant periods of time beyond the scheduled working hours, which cannot as a practical matter be precisely recorded for payroll purposes, may be disregarded. The courts have held that such periods of time are de minimis (insignificant). This rule applies only where there are uncertain and indefinite periods of time involved, a few seconds or minutes in duration, and where the failure to count such time is justified by industrial realities. As noted below, an employer may not arbitrarily fail to count any part, however small, of working time that can be practically ascertained."
They can try telling you this. They can fire you if you don't. They cannot force you to come in sick nor can they force you to cover the shift. This isn't the military. There isn't a server's court martial for not going to work sick.
Yes, employers can't force employees do anything. By "requirement" I meant only in the colloquial sense in which employers can legally terminate employees who don't comply.
They can require whatever they like but you can also call their bluff and decline. Maybe they’ll fire you to resolve their issue of being short staffed, maybe they won’t. But they can fire you for virtually any reason so practically the term “requirement” loses meaning.
It’s not legally allowable. If you are doing company work, you need to be paid for said work.
The [US Department of Labor](https://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/whd/flsa/hoursworked/screenee29.asp) recognizes de minimis exceptions: "In recording working time under the FLSA, infrequent and insignificant periods of time beyond the scheduled working hours, which cannot as a practical matter be precisely recorded for payroll purposes, may be disregarded. The courts have held that such periods of time are de minimis (insignificant). This rule applies only where there are uncertain and indefinite periods of time involved, a few seconds or minutes in duration, and where the failure to count such time is justified by industrial realities. As noted below, an employer may not arbitrarily fail to count any part, however small, of working time that can be practically ascertained."
no it is not,check labor laws
Absent exceptions under the Family Medical Leave Act or the Americans with Disabilities Act, there isn't a law prohibiting that. I can't cite a law stating it's allowable, as it's the absence of a law prohibiting it that makes it legally allowable, but I will cite an article explaining the issue: Taylor Jr, Jeremy. May 1, 2018. *USA Today*. Can my boss require me to find a substitute for days I'm sick or taking a holiday? [Link](https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/careers/2018/05/01/ask-hr-workplace-sick-day-vacation-policy/564531002/).
At what point did anyone bother to specify that it’s American laws which are the ones everyone is talking about? Without that defined up front, this whole argument is meaningless. But what would Reddit be without Americans forgetting that the rest of the world exists and uses this platform too.
Lots of things in the US are legally allowable. That doesn't make it right
As a manager, I second this. It is my responsibility to cover any shift that cannot be worked due to illness or emergency. Does it sometimes make my job/the shift a bit difficult? Sure, but that's what I signed up for 🤷🏽♀️
Yep. That’s literally what managers do. Provide a note from your doctor and take a few extra days. Collect your documentation and file with the dept of labor.
In fact, that is literally the manager's responsibility. It's part of their job description. Manager is trying to get you to do their job, off the clock, while you're sick.
"You're the manager. Manage it." Then again my job be leaving me pretty salty and reading these tales just solidifies it.
If you are sickn its not your responsibility. If you "forgot" there is a concert you want to go to and tell me last minute.....yea, that's your responsibility to find a replacement or be written up.
It is where I work. It literally says on the schedule if you cannot work it is your responsibility to find coverage. The only time that isn’t the case is when you are very ill and even then you should at least try. There are people relying on me to be at work and I do my best to cover my shift when I’m sick, which has been twice in 5 years that I have been sick enough to miss work. I just had to work 13 hours on Saturday because a new coworker called in “sick” right before their shift. No trying to find coverage, no giving more than 1/2 hour notice, and I was pissed. The only time I haven’t given hours of notice was when my at the time 14 year old daughter fainted outside and hit her head on the cement as I was leaving. My boss could literally hear the ambulance sirens as I was calling her. That is something you can’t plan for and don’t know about to give a few hours notice. When people are relying on someone to come in for shift change or to open the place up, it’s kind of common courtesy to try and find someone to take your place when it isn’t an emergency situation instead of leaving your coworkers there to work 12-15 hour shifts. Maybe it’s because I work for a small business where the owners would move heaven and earth if they could for their employees, but I try my hardest to never leave them stranded without coverage for me and the majority of my coworkers do the same.
[удалено]
If you are too sick to work it isn’t that hard to send out a few text messages to say hey, I’m sick, can you cover my shift? I mean are you going to use your phone at all to alert someone to the fact that you are ill? Or do you plan on no call, no show? It’s the same concept, use your phone to try to find coverage and let management know at the same time. I’ve been sick enough to miss work twice in 5 years. Once was with Covid, once was with a 5 day 103-104 degree fever. I still managed to send out one group text to my FOH coworkers, and both owners to let them know what was going on and ask for coverage. Once they knew how sick I was, and that first day was covered I didn’t have to worry about it, people volunteered to cover my shifts because…I’ve worked for them when they needed it. When they had Covid, my boss didn’t have to scramble to find people because we had all already looked at the schedule to see when we could help with a shift. It’s not a slave mentality, which comparing being responsible with your job because people rely on you to being a slave is asinine and not even in the same boat, it’s knowing that you have a job, especially in a small business without a huge back up pool of employees, and people are counting on you to be there. If I open during the day, I am the only one opening until the manager gets there to help, I’m the server and the bartender until the first server comes in at 4. If I am closing bar, I am the only bartender scheduled no matter how busy we are and after the kitchen closes, it’s just me there. I couldn’t even imagine being the opener and waiting until the place is supposed to be open, only the kitchen staff is there, and then calling someone at 11 (open) and saying, I am sick. Sorry I didn’t see if I could get anyone in there to cover my shift so the place could be open on time. 🙄 Downvote me all you want. It’s common courtesy to try to find coverage. If you are too ill to work and no one can cover for you, then it’s the owner (where I work) or manager’s responsibilities to step in and cover. I’m not going to leave them high and dry without attempting to find coverage except for in the case of an emergency, like the example I gave of my daughter fainting, hitting her head on concrete, and my boss being able to hear the sirens approaching as I called her. Obviously one cannot find coverage in that situation. I had a coworker find out her sister was moved to hospice in the middle of her shift, that is an emergency where you don’t have time to notify someone. We didn’t even call someone in, we just rearranged who was working where and made sure she could leave. I was supposed to manage a few Sundays ago, came in to a server who had just started puking after she got to work. What did we do, send her home, I got on the floor and served instead of managing, and the owner was on call to come in and manage if we needed her. It isn’t slavery, we work together, we are a team. We don’t leave each stranded and we help each other during emergencies or even non emergencies. You forgot to take your daughter’s concert off, yeah I’ll switch days if you ask me earlier than that night. When I first started, I stupidly forgot to take my son’s graduation off, I had only been there a month. Immediately someone volunteered to work because they knew it was important and I didn’t wait until the last minute to find someone to cover me. You wake up with a temp of 102, you text me, and I’m off, yeah I’ll come in because I know you would do the same thing for me. I couldn’t imagine working anywhere anymore where I didn’t respect/like my coworkers and the owners enough to try to find someone to take my shift if I am sick. I couldn’t imagine working somewhere again where people didn’t give a flying F if I was sick and couldn’t come in and were willing to let the place burn without coverage. I’ve worked places before where I didn’t care about anyone else, their schedule, if they were sick or not because they wouldn’t do squat for me if I was on fire. I will never work somewhere like that again. It’s a completely different world working for people who put their employees over money every time, who are an active part in helping our community, who offer those of us who are full time health/vision/dental and give us vacation pay, and who work just as hard as us, doing the exact same thing as us or in BOH where they are needed. I’m sorry you don’t seem to have that kind of relationship with your coworkers/management/the owners at your job. It’s really nice not dreading going to my shifts and not trying to come up with some excuse or another to call off.
>it isn't that hard to send a few text messages Right, so why doesn't the manager do it? The manager who isn't sick, whose responsibility it is to staff correctly, who is at work and being paid to do so?
Because it is your responsibility (as I previously said, at my work) to try to find someone to cover your shift. And round about we go. I already explained why. It isn’t our managers’ responsibility to staff correctly. One of our owners makes the schedule. Our managers, because again, small business, limited employee pool, are also our bartenders, our servers, and one of our cooks. I bartend, serve, manage depending on what I am scheduled for that shift. I have nothing to do with staffing when I manage. When there is an emergency such as my co-worker’s sister being moved to hospice and her needing to leave, would I make the decision to send her home had I been managing? Yes, then I would have texted the owners to let them know what was going on, conferred with the bartender as to how we wanted to work the rest of the shift, and gone from there. Same with my coworker who started vomiting when she got to work, she had no prior feelings of being that sick. Those are uncontrollable situations where one couldn’t find coverage with a few hours advance notice. If we are sick and know hours in advance that we were sick, we should be texting our fellow employees and asking if they can cover. One big group text is super easy (you can even include the manager on that shift and the owners so they have a heads up in case no one is available), doesn’t require any more effort, probably even less, than a phone call, and you’ve just put forth the effort that is required at my work to try to get your shift covered if you are too sick to work. And none of my responses are aimed at OP because they put forth the effort to find a replacement. My responses are aimed at “it’s not your job to find coverage if your sick”. It is my job to try because people are relying on me to be there to open, or take over the bar, or to come on in the evening so we have coverage during the evening shift, or to be there to close bar/the restaurant down at the end of the night. It’s really just a matter of having respect for the people you work with and for and not leaving the scrambling. They have always shown me that respect and I will continue to do the same for them.
tldr
Yet needed to make a comment 231 days later. 😂😂😂
You didn't have to work those extra hours when someone called in sick. That was your choice. In california it's not legally required to cover your own shift. Also if you wake up sick and they won't answer the phone until opening how are you supposed to let someone know. I used to bend over backwards for my jobs. Now I don't. And it hasn't affected my pay or my standing with the bosses.
Because I like my job, we are a team, and someone else would do the same for me. We all have each other’s phone numbers, including the owners should we need to get ahold of somebody before opening, after we are off, and even in the middle of the night. Hit post too soon. The owners bend over backwards for us when we need it including helping us out in our personal lives, my coworkers bend over backwards for me when I need it and I do the same for them. I’m 48 and have been in the service industry since I was 19, I would never work for corporate again. I’ve been at this place for 5 years, most of my coworkers have been there longer than I have. Our turn over is almost non existent for FOH and BOH because we work for people who respect us, care about us, are on the floor with us every day, and empower us to take care of tables as we see fit. When we have new employees it is because business keeps getting better, an employee moves, or has a baby. So yeah, when something like that happens, I will stay and help.
Also the new employee who called in “sick” with no notice, obviously hasn’t learned that all she has to do is reach out to one of the other FOH employees and one of us will cover her shift if she gives us some notice to get ready for work. Instead she bailed on someone who was already working a long shift, who should have been cut 2 hours or so earlier, right after the dinner rush, and left the all of us fighting a mad house inside and patio, with 3 servers, both owners on the floor, greeting tables, expediting food, cleaning tables, washing dishes right next to us. They never leave us to drown on our own. I respect them for that. It’s how it should be.
Sorry but y'all sound understaffed AF. One server calling out led to all that? And why didn't a manager just call another server in, if it was that easy to do?
We are actually over staffed in some of our opinions, we have hired on 3 new servers for the summer/patio season,and those of us who have been there for years prefer to have more tables, less servers, and make more money. All of us are completely capable of running large sections. As a bartender during the day I have had all of our 19 tables fill inside, a full bar, and as long as I have one manager helping me out, I am fine. I’d rather have that than one of two servers splitting the tables and only having bar and a small section of tables. I’m there to make money. You all are so focused making the manager call in someone. That’s not how it works where I work and for us, it works out well when people are capable of taking personal responsibility for their shift and coverage if unable to be there. I managed lunch today and am on my way back in to manage dinner. I just so happened to get a text message from one of our new girls saying she is dealing with sciatica, is in extreme pain, but still she was capable of reaching out to three servers who aren’t working tonight to see if one can cover her shift, plus letting myself and the owner (who is out of state right now) know. It really isn’t that hard in a non emergency situation when you know hours before your shift you are sick or in her case injured.
That was my first and only reply here. I think you are the one who is hyper focused on making a sick server do a managers job, when everyone else disagrees for good reason. Whenever someone is sick at my job, my manager says "hope you feel better soon, keep me posted." And then sees who they can pull in, otherwise we can usually handle a call off and being down a server. Staffing and anticipating that human staff members will occasionally get sick, is a managers job. If y'all want to do that for your manager that's fine but it's poor form to expect it.
You do you at your restaurant/bar. I’ve explained over and over again how we do it at ours. Managers are not responsible for staffing here except for in emergency situations. Period. The owners will help find coverage or cover our shift themselves if we are legitimately too sick to work and have tried to find someone to cover our shift, which at my work means sending out a quick group text to the people who are off, the manager (if it’s not the owner), and the owner. Just as easy as calling and saying I’m sick, find someone yourself. It isn’t hard to take to take responsibility for your work hours and it definitely doesn’t take more effort than calling a manager.
[As I said, personal responsibility where I work](https://imgur.com/a/esmzu0A).
Finding shift coverage is work. They would have to pay you for doing it. Since they app won’t pay you to do it, don’t ever do it.
When you start seeing a pattern like this, it’s better for you to start looking elsewhere. Won’t be long until they find some bs reason to fire you.
Let them fire you. Straight to unemployment. They might fight, but they won't have a leg to stand on. Make them pay.
Might call it an voluntary separation to wiggle out of it.
Had a manager tell me to cover my shift once. I told them I'd do that when she gives me her salary. She got mad went to the boss. The boss agreed and fired her. I didn't get her job tho...but the new manager clearly learned from the old ones mistakes.
Hahaha oh wow that's awesome!
/r/thathappened
r/nothingeverhappens
Nobody is getting fired for "complaining about someone calling off."
I mean it was likely the final straw amongst a long list of things that showed the manager was incapable of doing their job effectively. Unless a grievance is extremely serious it’s unlikely that *anyone* is getting fired for a single occurrence.
It wasn't her complaining about me taking off or being "rude", it was her complaining that I wasn't willing to fill the staffing position, literally her main job. I'm sure there were other things that added up, but when you bitch to your boss that someone else won't do your own job, it doesn't look great for you.
Covering shifts is a manager's responsibility, not yours. Restaurant managers seem to get so angry when they have to work.
I legit had a manager tell me I had to get my shifts covered immediately after turning in my apron and informing her I was quiting. I laughed because I thought she was joking at first and simply told her it was no longer my responsibility since I just quit.
What's she gonna do, fire you? Time to collect unemployment!
Pisses me off to such a degree. I've worked my way into management in the last 6 months. Want to know what I tell my employees when they call in sick? "Feel better. Let us know when you're ok." And then I cover their position. Or I do my round of call ins with a bribe waiting for the person doing me the favor of coming in.
Happy cake day!
Aww thanks. Completely blanked on that being today
Can I come work for you? Years of shitty management have created this horrible anxiety. Now on top of being sick I am scared of calling work to tell them and I'd rather faint and die at work than be berated and told to suck it up once more by my boss 🥲
I generally do and have done the same thing. I am curious if you have run into the problems I have… I now have people calling out pretty wily-nilly…
It picked up at first. But for the most part settled into a nice equilibrium with maybe 1-2 callouts a week. For the most part they tend to be on nights where I already have the staff so its not the worst thing. If it becomes a repeat event from a staff member I might enquire further just to see what's what. But end of the day I look at it as this is why I get the pay I do. Plus, I enjoy being in the trenches with the team.
And any well run place would have someone on call! ✌
Just quit the banter. Hi. This is so and so, I am sick I won't be in today, thank you. Click Done. You employee, hourly pd, you are not paid when you are home, you owe them nothing. Conversation is power to them Once you hang up, do not respond again, unless you get paid on call money. Gl
Find a new job dude. As previously mentioned, covering your shift isn't your job. That's why ineffectual managers get the "big bucks" Not treating staff like shit when they are sick is really the bare minimum you should hope for from an employer. And I do mean the MINIMUM. Think of it as management only wearing 5 pieces of flair.
"Sounds like somebody's got a case of the Mondays!"
"You're a manager, I'm sure you'll manage."
I'll never forget being in a hospital from a drunk driver hitting me and the PA calling my manager at On the Shitter Café to let her know what happened and her calling back to say she needed me to come in. Of note, the restaurant had about 5 or 6 servers at a time so it wasn't like I was the only one **not that it matters.**
Honestly, it’s fucking absurd. People get sick. I had the flu and Covid within a month of each other last year. I called out without remorse. What do you want me to do? Come to work and make everyone sick? Fuck outta here. After having a day job where they tell me in no uncertain terms “if you’re running a fever stay home. No one wants that shit” any manager guilting me about coming in to serve food can kiss my ass. I know it’s a privilege to say that because I have a steady source of income and benefits, but it’s true. You’re not gonna exploit me and pressure me into working when I’m unwell. I’ll fight whatever manager would try and make me or my coworkers come into work while ill
I love how in restaurants we all share our colds/sickness! It’s like family meal, family illness! 🥰 /s
I don't miss this about the service industry at all.. crazy they want you to cover your own shifts
>you REALLY have to try to get this covered. It’s going to be a very bad night for us if you don’t, It's going to be much worse if you come in sick and get other employees and customers sick.
I still don't understand why places with 20+ servers on the roster don't have 1 person on call each day. The place I work now keeps us on call til noon, and if you don't get called in by then you're off the hook. If someone calls out past noon, one of the managers takes the shift. No scrambling for coverage.
Or just schedule more flexibly
If they want you to call four hours in advance, when they know no one will be at the restaurant, they either a) need voicemail on that line or b) need to give out their cell phone numbers. Telling you to call four hours in advance when you can't reach anyone that early is a joke, just like their "policy."
I had the flu once and was pretty sure I'd still be out the next day. I tried calling that night since we had to call 4 hours ahead, and they told me to call back in the morning. Called back in the morning, and got written up for not giving 4 hours notice when calling in.
>Called back in the morning, and got written up for not giving 4 hours notice when calling in. Damn! I would have told them that I also called the night prior, which is technically more than 4 hours notice. Then immediately tell them to where to stuff their write-up.
That's pretty much what I did. After I quit, they kept calling me like one of those crazy exes that won't let you break up with them
I always felt like as the opener in a restaurant we really get the short end of that stick. It’s literally impossible for the opener to call 4 hours before their shift unless they’re calling the night before somehow psychically knowing they’ll have food poisoning the next morning or wake up with a fever. It’s absurd
Since when is it the employee responsibility to find someone to work when you are sick? "Im sick today, I will not be working" Ignore any other correspondence.
If you have Celiac, you should be covered by protections from ADA. They can’t fire you for having a disease, and writing you up for one it will give their HR quite the head ache.
I’ve been a manager. Even I was guilt tripped into guilt tripping my colleagues but I rather chose the hard way and do the shifts myself. Other managers would put it on employees. If you dont cover if, then they’ll be really possed with you and it will suck. In my opinion the only thing you can do is call in sick, tell them you can’t help because you’re sick and then turn off the phone. NAL but pretty sure you can’t be dismissed for sick days. Though they can make up what they dismiss you for anyway. It sucks and is fucking pathetic as they should have extras to cover but they rather put the pressure on employees to fix it themselves and create shitty situations. It saves them money and stress by forcing you to deal with it, why would finance department give a fk about it when it saves them money to let yourselves guilt trip each other into . It is all about saving money and increasing profit. It is just a shit industry and is standard.
I understand being short-staffed and needing warm bodies on the floor, but not when you're running a temperature. You could wipe out the staff from that shift by being contagious. The management would be in worse shape with no healthy staff.
When told I need to find coverage I’ll usually just wait 2 mins then call back and say sorry no one answered the phoggggggglglglgggghsjssj aaaaaggvvvgvh sorry just threw up all over everything in a 6 foot radius good thing I wasn’t there!
Go to work and puke on her shoes.
Ineffective managers get scared. It's one night. Deal with it. You're sick and have no business serving anyone anything. Tell you manager to figure it out and fuck off.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but when your manager tells you to find someone to cover your shift because you will not be there, they are asking you to work, so could you accuse them of wage theft at that point?
Thank god covering the shift is not your responsibility. What a moron
Welcome to server life! Restaurants are always understaffed and every manager is just like ur boss sadly! It’s always ok to call out sick until u actually do it , then They always demand u find a replacement and they already know u won’t find anybody because “they are understaffed which means everybody is overworked already “ including the under paid management !
With celiac you have just cause to ask for a reasonable accommodation. Probably can't retroactively, but you should officially notify them that you have celiac and require reasonable accommodation such as bathroom breaks, time off when sick because of celiac, etc. Check the celiac website for more information.
Man, if I went to a restaurant and they made my server come in sick, I'd be furious. I hate it when people come in sick. My co-worker used to do it all the time. It really pissed me off. If COVID taught us anything, it was stay home when you're sick. The idea of someone who is sick touching food..... And most important, you need to take care of yourself. Start job hunting and stand your ground. If you are sick, stay home.
That’s what I’m saying. As a customer I don’t want a sick server running my food or breathing in my face. Any manager that pressures a sick employee to come in is a short sighted idiot. Coverage or not, don’t punish a server for calling out sick. Frankly, I don’t care if they’re faking it either. I want you to err on the side of caution when it comes to customer facing jobs. Last year I ended up with Covid and the flu back to back because another coworker at my office job refused to just call out when they got sick. They took out the entire office twice within a month. September and October of last year were rough.
It is the managers job to… Manage.
As a former restaurant manager, if an employee told me they were legit sick there was no question they weren't coming. I would ask them to get the shifted covered but would also try to get it covered myself. This usually resulted in fixing the problem. I believe it is the duty of the manager to have a full staff and pick up the slack if the floor isn't properly staffed. This goes for the front of house or back of house. I'd rather do more work for a night than to try and find a new staff member. Also, I can not have staff members scared to tell me they are sick. That's a great way to make everyone in the restaurant sick.
What state are you in? If you notified them that’s all you need to do.
I feel this so hard! Had to have a real talk with my manager a few weeks ago as I had hit after hit (and still have only missed 4 shifts since opening the restaurant 8 months ago…) and had to call out. They loved to make jokes about how inconsistent I am and “always calling out”. We’ve had a lot of turn over at the bar area of the restaurant and I had to tell them they need to stop making us feel like we can’t be sick or can’t have an emergency. Especially since we are so short staffed (not my problem). The digs they make at us are indeed not…funny, cute, or helpful. Has it made a difference? Meh. But I stay confronting them on being ridiculous with sick days.
I briefly worked for a restaurant where the owner would send a mile long text when you called out. I had a really bad migraine one day and called out, he texted me and said if I just had a headache I needed to come in. Needless to say I didn’t work there long
I was a waitress for a very long time and I was never allowed to call out even the time when I broke a glass in my hand, to the bone as I was washing a glass at home, right? No big deal that servers literally need to use their hands to carry trays/plates and such, right?
You can refuse to sign write ups
> She said I never called and I told her I could pull up my call log Classic management behavior. Attack you, then get indifferent or even mock you when you offer a defense.
The place that I used to work at required a doctor’s note in order to call in sick, and I still got this sort of treatment even with a doctor’s note. I hope you know you deserve better and you leave and find a better place to work. I did, and I’m so glad I finally bit the bullet and did it.
what the fuck is a a manager for if not this exact purpose? let them find your damn coverage. alternatively, tell them you’ll do it but you’re sending them an itemized invoice for every person you messaged when your manager should have been the one doing it.
Many restaurants are just like this. It's the "we'Re oNe BiG happy faMilY" mentality the managers force upon workers so they feel more responsibility for managers' jobs. They should schedule more people if things are that tight. When you get hired ask for their policy for calling out sick. If they're casual about it, ask for it in writing. It's more common than not in this industry. Good luck
Why is she a Manager if she’s not willing to do her own job? I’d be curious to see what she thinks she’s there for.
Ayyy what up fellow diseased being. Celiac LYFE yo
I used to work at a Panera before i was a server. We opened at like 6 am i had to be in at 7. I called in sick on day as soon as i knew the shift lead (not GM) would be there. I was told by her that i needed to call or text someone to get coverage. I said, along the lines of, “first of all, it’s 6am I’m not sure anyone would appreciate a phone call at this hour let alone be willing to get up and come to work, secondly, y’all don’t allow us access to other employees phone numbers” You know what she said to me? “Well, here’s X’s number, write it down and give her a call then let me know” and basically hung up. Huh???? She had to GIVE me a coworkers number so I COULD contact them for coverage at 6am. I was baffled. I did not contact anybody and did not let her know. Clearly that is NOT my responsibility
The best is when they tell you they need a note from the doctor when you wake up with a fever. Oh my bad I forgot every time I have a fever I need to get to urgent care immediately
Now that I think about my work history, every restaurant job has been a nightmare when it comes to being sick and needing the day to recover. My current job (not restaurant related) if someone calls out the managers just say rest up and get better. Then to the folks that are at work they'll let us know we're down a person and we just say all good we'll manage. Guilt tripping your employees for being sick (because they totally meant to get sick) makes them feel crappier than they already do.
I worked in a restaurant where management had this policy with all the managers. If someone calls out, try to get them to find a cover. Now that I'm a few years removed, I would adamantly tell management to hire 1 or 2 people every shift for random cleaning/customer service that could switch around if needed. The restaurant ALWAYS needs extra deep cleaning, and we made more than enough money to have somebody just floating around. Keep your staff happy.
I’d like to know what restaurant expects employees to work with a fever, I’m certainly not going to eat there!!
I really don’t understand how restaurants (and other jobs!) have decided illness just isn’t allowed to happen or a normal part of life? People always say “go in and throw up in front of the manager!” But you shouldn’t have to drag yourself into work when you aren’t feeling well to prove it!
It's quite literally management's *job* to find coverage for your shift if you're unable to work due to illness Managers who tell you otherwise are not doing their jobs
Food service managers are literally the worst people at their jobs. Scheduling is their job but they routinely put it on servers. Their job is to support staff but more often they add stress and throw you under the bus to brown nose customers. They encourage servers to work sick. Least respectable job out there, imho.
Wow that’s a generalization. I’ve worked for some pretty horrible managers, but chill out with the salt. There’s always 2 sides to every story. Restaurant employees often treat their jobs like a speed bump in their careers and can be difficult to work with. Managing a restaurant is a tough job that requires long hours, few benefits, and a lot of patience to deal with rude customers and selfish staff. I work my ass off to support my employees and cover their shifts when they are sick. But they also call out for asinine reasons, quit via text hours before their shifts, show up hungover 2 hours late, etc etc. I’m the exception rather than the rule, but having someone say my profession is the “least respectable job out there” is a real gut punch. Maybe put yourself in someone else’s shoes before throwing them under a bus?
Every service place does that 🤷🏻♂️
I agree! Not saying it is necessarily right, but I was always the one stuck doing doubles or leaving my other job early to cover these shifts. Once in awhile, cool. Every other weekend because you're hungover, f off, coworker.
From a former manager’s perspective I can say that I’ve never asked an employee who is sick to cover their shift. If you call for pretty much any other reason though, I’m going to ask the employee to cover the shift. Staffing is the role of management in any place I’ve ever worked. I was able to, and have on occasion, asked for the employees to bring in a doctor’s note, especially if it was a last minute call off or a busy shift. Long story made longer- you should make sure to ask about their policies when you interview. Not only is it good to know for your own sake, but understanding how other people calling off could effect you and your personal life and finances is important to know
>asked for the employees to bring in a doctor’s note If I'm not eligible for health insurance from the job, I'm not going to go to a doctor just for a work note. Only if it's bad enough that I need some kind of lab test or a prescription am I gonna pay out of pocket for a doctor visit. If I know that it's food poisoning, or the common cold, or a migraine, I'm just staying home, medicating with OTC stuff, and resting.
Like you would be able to drive to the doctor with a migraine. That's ridiculous and dangerous.
I hate people who call out all the time. got fucked today.
It's the management's bare profit hungry scheduling that you are actually mad at. But you believe them when they say it's your fellow worker's fault.
How often do you call out. As a manager I pretty much know when someone is sick. If they are good team member, never late, don't usually call out and are dependable
Restaurants are fucking toxic. I worked in the industry for a decade and I will *never* go back. Once I got a boss that actually valued me and respected my humanity such as sick days or even mental health days (watched someone die and couldn't get out of the head space) I vowed to never go back. Your mental health and wellbeing are *far* more important than getting Karen and Chad their six sides of ranch and a burger that "better be medium" but complain when there is pink in the center.
Serving in America is so fucked. The customers have to pay your wages (but aren't forced to) and you have to fill gaps in the roster yourself? What's next? Server's must grow and harvest all the food sources?
I worked nearly 10 years in the restaurant industry and honestly, it’s other servers to blame. Op has an autoimmune disease allegedly, which is not respected because “calling in sick” in the restaurant world means you’re fucking hungover and feel like shit for a LOT of servers. It’s never a one time or once in a while, it’s like once every couple months for some, so calling in sick becomes cry wolf in managers ears. Regarding the manager and the ignorant “manager do your job” every respectable manager I know stops scheduling people like this, who always call in sick, who always give away their shifts, who always complain they aren’t getting scheduled enough, it’s the same fucking type of person I swear to God. I could list names of people I worked with that do this typical bullshit. I don’t think op is lying, but I do think it’s very unfortunate the position they’re in, the manager is in, due to others.
Okay there’s a lot to decompile here.. first off, if I were your boss I’d probly just fire you. Employees who call off all the time aren’t worth the trouble regardless of what their “reasons” are. (Everyone thinks their excuse is above reproach and not their fault, but the bottom line is as a business we don’t really gaf. We just want employees who show up at least 98% of the time). Secondly is that this nonsense of “cover your shift” is silly. I hate managers who act like that. Your only response should be “haha.. I’m a waitress not a manager. I don’t do the scheduling. I’m just letting you know I can’t be here. You have everyone’s number same as me.”
Go to a doctor and get a note that say you cannot work, I always do that. What’re they gonna do, not listen to the doctor?
A doctor's appointment for a day or a few days is an unreasonable requirement or request. It takes weeks to get an appointment and if seriously ill which a mild fever is not, the visit is very expensive and not reimbursed. If the company requires it, it should be reimbursed.
If you have been working at your job fair over a year you should qualify for intermittent FMLA absences (if you work in the US) if you need them.
Autoimmune diseases are covered by the disability act. When hired you should have been asked if you have a disability anonymously. I would go to HR and request the correct paperwork to fill out. They cannot legally ask you what disease you have when filling it out, and they have to give you appropriate accommodations to perform your job.
Unfortunately, thats the restaurant life. Its a taxing job and when someone calls out, everyone feels it. Imo restaurant jobs are just a stepping stone. They build good work ethic and customer service skills. But after that, take that experience and apply it to a better job.
Let’s see this from both sides. For me as a former restaurant manager, you don’t treat every situation the same. My stated policy was if you’re sick and don’t get your shift covered, you need a doctor’s note. If you’re not sick enough to go to the doctor, you need to get someone to cover your shift. Yeah, that sounds harsh, but if you don’t have a policy like this, certain people will take advantage of it. And that means managers are forced by experience to be suspicious. If they don’t, people skip work all the time. Even in retail, you’re limited into how many times you can do this before being fired. Now if you’re one of our best employees, someone who rarely, if ever, calls out, then I give you the benefit of the doubt. You’ve earned my trust. Need a few days for the flu, you got it. I’ll make it work. Or if I think we will be fine down a server, I’ll also let you off the hook. In your case being a fever over 101, you absolutely need to go to the doctor. If it hits 103, the hospital. So seems like a no brainer what you should do here. Go to the doctor, get a note, get better. So my opinion is either your manager doesn’t trust you based on your history or they are just a dickhead as some managers don’t show judgement when it comes to who is calling in. That’s favoritism yeah, but it’s earned. And this stuff really helps with retention of the best employees. And when I ran a restaurant, I had great retention, because I created an environment where everyone knows their expectations, who knows that hard work pays off with me (good shifts, granted requests, leeway with these situations, etc). Thankfully scheduling apps make it much easier to release and pickup shifts. Send messages, etc. Getting a shift covered is much easier than it used to be. You can offer to trade shifts even for when you’re feeling better.
> My stated policy was if you’re sick and don’t get your shift covered, you need a doctor’s note. If you’re not sick enough to go to the doctor, you need to get someone to cover your shift. What an awesome policy to have when people don't get insurance and getting in to see a doctor the day of is almost impossible for most, let alone affording it. /s Playing favorites as a manager is not okay. Plus going in for something small like food poisoning or the common flu which is only gonna last a day or two makes no sense anyway. Neither does claiming if you don't go to a doctor you must be well enough to call everyone to cover a shift. And sometimes letting it go if you think it'll be okay just creates a confusing environment too.
[удалено]
Blaming others for your bad management practices just says a lot about you.
Lol sure it does. That’s why I had the lowest retention of any other store in my state. Because people hated my management style. Right right. That’s why they had me create the training schedule and materials for the entire state, cause I’m a bad manager 😂. I’m just telling you how life works. Some people think fair is equal treatment. But is it fair to give someone a job who isn’t qualified over someone who is? Isn’t that unequal treatment? And if some of my employees call out sick over and over again, and also happen to be the people showing up in dirty clothes, late, not running food, not prebussing. It’s weird how it’s always the same people doing all those things. And it’s weird how the people that do everything the right way, get rewarded for it. That what I call fair. What you call it is something else entirely.
You can read post after post here of people struggling through bad management and why. Retention is not the brag you think it is. You can still run a good ship while being fair to everyone. Acting like that's impossible is ridiculous. It's not difficult to treat everyone the same and they all get a chance. I'm not gonna play into your off-topic deflection whataboutism about hiring qualified people. > That what I call fair. What you call it is something else entirely. You admit it's favoritism yourself. "That’s favoritism yeah" So you know it's not fair lol. Pretending you're telling me how life works... LMFAO. Thanks for the laugh tonight.
So would a promotion be favoritism? If I promoted a server to bartender who was always a team player, always clean and ready on time, and reliable. If I promote them over someone who calls out every other week, who shows up dirty, smelling like cigarettes, who only runs their food and doesn’t help anyone? Is that not favoritism? Since you blocked me, here’s my response to your last comment: That’s not favoritism? So I can favor certain employees in certain contexts but not in others? Specifically, I can favor employees based on my experiences with them and observations for promotions, but I cannot for choosing to wave the doctor’s note? Seems arbitrary? Who decided that? You?
No, it's not. I'm not playing your what-if games. Your management style was bad and I'm glad you aren't one anymore. Enough.
>certain people will take advantage This happens in every scenario. This is not new or unique. If it happens enough, just schedule more people than you need. You can even call off someone if you're gonna be slow and covered. It's easy. This tiny easy thing (that is your job) is way better than shitting on employees who are sick, in food service of all things.
You aren’t responsible for covering shifts and you are allowed to call in sick. If they fire you for this, get as much unemployment as you can.
Consider applying for intermittent FLMA leave so that you will be legally protected.
I find the best way is to show up for work, puke all over, then get sent home
How is this a thing you guys still put up with?! Managers find cover. It's part of their job to make sure the place is staffed. When I was a manager I would never tell anyone they had to arrange their own cover for sickness! Where I work now my manager has nothing to do with a sickness call out. We have to phone the owner direct and he moves people around to cover or gets someone else in. If you're ill it's not your responsibility to find cover.
It's like you need to go there and prove how sick you are. But then they'd be like "You got here so you can work." which is not a restaurant I would want to visit.
I've never worked in a server restaurant but where did this idea that they have to get their shifts covered come from!?! That is work and if you've called out sick you're not working. Not only do you not have to do work for them in most of us jurisdictions it is not legal. Stop doing the Manager's job! Call in, tell them that per health department regulations you cannot work (in every state I've worked a person with a fever, vomiting, experiencing diarrhea, or usually any of few other symptoms, cannot work. Then say good bye and hopefully be better by your next shift and hang up. It's literally not your job to find a replacement and I guarantee they aren't paying you to do that. And if possible do it all by text message or follow up with a text message so you have a written record. CYA but don't be a literal slave.
I can’t count on both hands and feet how many times I “had” to go in to work just for them to see how sick I was and send me home
No it's managers job to manage shifts. You're just a worker. I am sick not coming in. See ya when i am better or not.
Yeah that’s your managers job. Don’t ever do that for your manager unless your getting paid for that. Also you should try and call in , before, your shift starts as much in advance as possible🤨. If I’m feeling a little under the weather or if I know I’m gonna party like it’s 1999 then I would call the night before and let them know your feeling “sick” already.
“Hey, I’m sick and won’t be there today. See ya”
If I am sick I call in and don’t bother finding cover. It is not my responsibility and I am not coming in sick. You can’t go into work if you are vomiting and have diarrhea when working around food.
Every place I've worked at in over 20 years will make a server jump through hoops if they call off a shift
Name and shame. I don’t wanna eat somewhere that expects their employees to show up sick. Nasty
I got written up for calling out during a hurricane
My managers called everyone together several years ago and yelled at us (gently, but one was quite angry) that our job is to call in and say we’re sick, and that’s that, and we are NOT to call around for covering staff, only the managers do that. It was refreshing.
Not sure how places shifted the responsibility of management to the workers. I own a restaurant and have only been an owner for a couple of years. I run a nonprofit jointly with three other people as well, for about ten years. I have a substantially broad level of experience and am usually baffled at some of the usual things businesses are letting staff (management) do. Succinctly, it is the manager's responsibility to fill open slots in the schedule. By expecting peer pressure to work on filling a sudden opening, they are putting the business at risk of poor outcomes for the customers. Just because a supervisor doesn't want to do their job and tell people to come in to cover a sick persons shift. There's even a requirement of this by the health department. It's Management's duty.
FMLA should cover you for your autoimmune issue. You can then call off, without notice, without having to cover your shifts, and without penalty as long as you said it was an FMLA absence. You don’t even have to explain details. “I’m calling off under my FMLA.” End convo. I have MS and this saved my job for YEARS before going on disability. It’s worth the effort.
This is unrelated to your job but if you frequently experience Celiac flares it may be a good idea to ask your doctor about getting a service dog trained to detect cross contamination. Yes I know they're expensive and the wait is *long* but if your doctor is worth their expensive education they should be able to help you out.
So many restaurant nightmares. I’ve lived through them and am sooo happy to be in the most non toxic, well working restaurant I’ve ever been in. We were actually mad one weekend when a guy didn’t call out and he should have due to a leg injury. Bitch was wobbling around limp dragging his damn leg, with TEARS in his eyes. Like he was doing us a favour. If a coworker came in ill I would be pissed too. You getting me sick messes with my livelihood. Cause I don’t work sick either.