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Just in Time! – Josh Solomowitz
March 26, 2015 | Leave a Comment
Having workers work off the clock is simply unfair – and even a form of slavery. Performing labor for no compensation is taking away wages from workers. Regardless of the laws in place that say companies are allowed to do “necessary actions” off of the clock, I believe that it is flat out wrong to do that. The employee is still inside the company, spending time there that they don’t have to once their shift is up. If you clock in/start at a specific time, why can’t it just go the other way?
I remember hearing about the Amazon case when it was going through the courts. Not getting paid for staying after? That sounds along the lines of unpaid labor. They can’t factor in ending a few minutes earlier to have time to check employees? That seems absurd to me. When I worked at Old Navy, they would let me finish a few minutes early so I would have time to clock out and get checked before I technically went over my time. This decision probably made their employees upset, as I would be too. An upset employee won’t work as hard, may lash out against the company in retribution, or even just quit. Amazon is risking a lot for something so little it seems.
McDonald’s is even worse. They actually have their employees perform extra tasks and have no intention of overtime, let alone paying them for their service. They have had a slew of lawsuits but to no avail. A majority of their workers are on minimum wage – which is too low, as we discussed. Like Amazon, they easily have the means to pay their workers.
As the Forbes article brings up, there is something very wrong with the system. Increasing taxes on the rich may not necessarily create jobs, but it would bring more money into the government, who could potential use that money to create jobs or find public works projects, among other activities. Everyone needs to pay their taxes. The rich need to invest in the economy, which would hopefully create jobs and even make the rich richer, just like they hope for.
These mega companies really need to put more emphasis on caring for their employees. Employees are also stakeholders in the company and they need to be accounted for. Whether they’re on a check-out line to leave work or performing tasks off of the clock, employees need more rights. Unions are a possible solution, but they could be easily corrupt and over-powering. They need a governmental body to enforce regulations and uphold their rights. Because it seems like they don’t have too much of those right now.
