I have 3 employees and am hiring a 4th. One of my employees is not able to work summers due to having her own kids so she is not on the schedule until fall.


All of my employees HAVE to work for me PT, FT is not an option due to insurance.

Currently I have no one working on Thursday morning and the only employee that can does not want to work on Thursdays because that is her time with her BF..She thinks that she should have seniority over the other employees that work summer as she has been here longer.

She is also the only one that does not have another job or in college over the summer.

The new hire can not work Thursday morn due to college. The other has a PT job and works all day there on Thursday.

I want to tell my assistant that she has to work Thursday mornings or I have to let her go. Is this fair?

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Some jobs respect seniority and others do not. As an employer you obviously have to do what is best for your business. Only you know if letting her go is worse than giving her Thursdays off.

If you do not of a seniority rules policy your decision is more than fair. I hope it works out for you.

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Thanks for your feed back.... I think the other thing that is bothering me is that she thinks that she is going to make her schedule which does not work for me. I need them to work with me as I do with them. All year long I have given her Thursdays off so she can have her BF time. Now I don't have my regular morning asst.

I really don't want to let her go because it would be very costly for me to train and certify someone.

But I can't run my business if I don't have someone here to keep in compliance . I am just super frustrated.

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Who cares if it is fair or not? It's what the job entails therefore she is either an employee that covers the required shifts or she isn't an employee.

That would be like us telling daycare parents that we are child care providers but we won't change diapers.

If YOU need her to be available on a certain day, then she either steps up or you find someone else that will.

It's that simple.

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very good point thanks BC. I just really needed some reassurance with this. I am feeling super angry and frustrated with her right now..

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I agree with pp's. It's your business and if you need her to work on Thursdays, then she needs to, if not then I would look for someone who wants to work. It sounds like she thinks she's entitled to do what she wants just because she has been there for a while.

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that is the exact feeling that I have. The young college kids these days all suffer from an irrational sense of entitlement. It won't kill you,but it will cause you to believe that you deserve everything for doing nothing.............

I am dreading having to talk with her about this AGAIN

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Wanted to add, what makes this so hard is that she is SUPER reliable otherwise.

in the past year has never showed up late once, never called in sick once and always works later when needed. BUT she has zero work ethic.

I need her so that I stay in compliance. she basically has become a warm body here...

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I also wouldn't "talk" with her about this either.

I'd post some sort of notice that says you will try to be accommodating to outside obligations such as other jobs and college courses but when you need someone, you need someone so employee requests may be CONSIDERED but won't be GUARANTEED.

Then put her on the schedule.

If she balks, tell her you NEED someone that day and she is scheduled. period.

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