Ask a Manager

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. I’m worried about our pregnant bartender

I own and operate a busy nightclub, and one of my bartenders is six months pregnant. She was pregnant last year as well, but miscarried four and a half months in (this detail is relevant). I asked the bartender, let’s call her Trudy, a few weeks back how long she’d like to keep working, and she said she’d like to work right up to the due date. At the time, I said okay. It’s her decision, I thought, and I don’t think I’m allowed to pull her off of the schedule for being pregnant anyway.

Fast forward to last weekend. Busy Friday night and Trudy starts to feel like something is wrong. She’s upset and crying, so we send her home immediately and work the rest of the night short-staffed. We hear back the next day that she was extremely dehydrated and stressed out and she’d started having contractions. The baby is okay, thankfully.

I had assumed from jump that Trudy would take herself off of the schedule if and when her health or the baby’s health was in jeopardy, but she was gunning to work the next night and was looking to pick up extra shifts the following week (she told me she needs the extra money). The rest of the staff is worried, I’m worried, and I wouldn’t be able to bear it if anything were to happen during a shift. How do I approach this?

Federal law is really clear that you can’t compel an employee to take leave because she’s pregnant, as long as she’s able to perform her job, even if you think you’re acting in her best interest.

It sounds like you’re assuming that her issue on Friday night was caused by working, but that kind of thing can happen whether or not someone is working. There’s no way to know that work caused it … but even if you could know, it’s still her call to make.

Treat her like any other employee who had a temporary health situation crop up while at work: give her an appropriate amount of time to handle it (which you did), and then trust her to manage her own health and trust that she’ll let you know if she deems it in her own best interest to stop working. She’s the only one who should make that call.

If there starts to be a pattern of her needing to leave mid-shift, you can of course address that — as long as you handle it the same way you’d handle it for any other employee with a temporary disability (not that pregnancy is a disability, but that’s what the law says).

2. Weekly meetings scheduled during lunch

I work at a small medical practice consisting of about 15 employees. We work from 8-5 with one-hour unpaid lunch. We’re all salary and this is a fairly new practice. Our employer has decided to call weekly lunch meetings and these usually take up our entire hour break. We’re told we can bring our lunches to the meeting but they never actually provide lunch for us.

I’m one who never brings lunch to work because I enjoy getting out of the office everyday. My position is a stressful and often a very demanding one. I look forward to this time to decompress, get a breath of fresh air and step away from the phone. I often run errands or go home to walk my dogs (I blessed I live five minutes from work)

Am I wrong to consider this hour of unpaid time as “my time”? I feel that my employer is wrong to expect us to spend nine hours at work and only pay us for eight. If this was a once a month thing I wouldn’t mind as much but weekly seems like an “abuse of power.” I’ve heard other coworkers mumble under their breath and outright complain when no one from management is around but no one will speak up.

Well, the first issue here is whether you’re exempt or non-exempt. At least some of you are almost certainly non-exempt and thus must be paid for all of the work that you do, including these weekly lunch meetings, and would need to be paid at time and a half for that hour if it puts you over 40 hours that week, which it sounds like it would. (Keep in mind that whether you’re exempt or non-exempt isn’t up to your employer; it’s a government classification that depends on your job duties. And there are almost certainly nonexempt employees working in a medical practice, if you have front desk staff.)

But if you’re exempt, then you’re not being paid hourly; you’re being paid for the job. In that case, I’d stop looking at your normal lunch hour as unpaid, because that doesn’t really work in an exempt framework. Rather, you have set hours of 8-5 and it’s okay to take a one-hour lunch break within that time — but you’re salaried, so it’s not about whether a specific hour or numbers of hours are paid or unpaid. That’s part of the deal with being exempt.

All that aside, if you and your coworkers hate these lunch meetings, speak up. Lunch meetings once a week aren’t particularly outrageous, and they don’t really qualify as an abuse of power (unless non-exempt staff aren’t being paid for them, which would be illegal). But if you all feel strongly that you don’t want them, speak up and say so. For example: “Our jobs are stressful and we rely on lunchtime to be able to decompress and come back to work refreshed. Can we schedule these at a time that isn’t lunch?” That’s perfectly reasonable and a decent manager would want to hear it, and if several of you say it, it will probably carry some weight.

But if no one is willing to say something, then yes, it will probably continue because your management can’t read your minds.

3. Turning down a freelance client whose work I’m uncomfortable with

I’m a full-time freelance copy editor, specializing in manuscripts for independent/self-publishing writers. A couple months back, I had a client who needed help with the copy for his Kickstarter page; he was hoping to fund a book he wants to write and publish about academic corruption.

I edited the content, which included a sample from the book he wants to publish; while doing so, I noticed that in the book he named universities and individuals that he claimed were involved in unethical behavior. I finished that project (I have no idea if his Kickstarter was at all successful), and now he’s contacted me again, wondering if I will edit a letter about academic corruption that he’s sending to donors of a school; he would also like me to edit the book he wants to publish.

The fact that he’s naming names in his accusations of academic corruption gives me pause. If someone were to sue him, could I also be named in the suit even though all I did was make sure his copy was grammatical and met Chicago Manual of Style standards? I just don’t feel comfortable editing the letter or the book. I would like to pass on editing anything more for him but I don’t want to make him mad enough to trash me and my services (word-of-mouth reputation is pretty important, especially as I’m still in the early phase of this career).

I doubt you could be held responsible, but note that I’m not a lawyer and should not be trusted on that question. Regardless, though, a good go-to line for turning down freelance work is this: “My schedule is fully booked up right now so I’m not taking on any new work. I’m sorry I’m not able to help, and I wish you all the best with it!”

The potential downside of this line is if you think he’ll hear from others that you are taking on new work, or if you don’t want him to discourage others from contacting you with new projects. In that case, I might be slightly vaguer: “Because of my schedule right now, I don’t think I could do it justice.” That still comes with those same potential downsides, but it’s less of a concrete statement that no one else with work should contact you.

Another alternative is just to be honest about your reason: “I admire what you’re doing, but I feel like it might be a risk for me to take it on at this early point in my career. I hope you understand.”

But really, I’d just go with “too busy.”

4. Was the amount of vacation in my offer letter incorrect?

Thanks to your advice I got a great job offer and accepted it. Way better than my old job, and I’m really happy. I noticed that the amount of vacation (and sick time) I earn is different than my offer letter. I mentioned this to my partner and he says that is standard, that when they say 10 days, they mean 10 days if you start Jan 1. I started mid-February and it’s not a deal breaker for me, but I am a little disappointed. Is my partner right that this is standard? The offer letter said “X days per year.”

Yes, that’s very standard. Usually vacation time is accrued with each pay period rather than front-loaded; in other words, if you get 10 days a year, you’ll earn .83 days per month (.83 x 12 months = 10). So if you start on January 1, you’ll accrue 10 days over the course of the year. But if you start on June 1, you’ll only accrue six days. And even with employers that front-load it and give it all to you at the start, they still usually (although not always) prorate it if you start partway through the year.

Think of it this way: If your offer letter lists a salary of $50,000, you’re not going to get the full $50,000 this year if you start in February — it’s divided by the number of pay periods and paid out that way. It’s typical to prorate time off in the same way.

5. Do employers look at old applications you submitted in the past?

I am currently on the job market. I am wondering whether employers retain all resumes you submit. I would like to remove one negative job experience (but my first leadership position) and only use it in cases wherein I am applying for leadership positions. I have realized through trial and error that it is better to leave off the experience where I just lasted three months due to a toxic work environment. Do employers consider all resumes you have submitted in the past?

It’s possible, but not super likely. I’ve on occasion looked back at someone’s previous application to get a sense of what’s changed since I last talked to them, but I had a specific reason for doing it. In general, it’s not going to be something that happens as a matter of course.

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. I’m a heroin addict and I need time off to get clean

I have been working at my current job for about eight months. I’m a pretty good employee, just got a raise, am asked to assist in other departments, etc. I have a good relationship with my manager and no performance issues. The only real issue that hasn’t even been addressed by my manager is that I only have two PTO days left (it’s only April; I was given 14 in the beginning of the year) because I’m pretty much a huge heroin addict and the reason for my absences is that I either am too dope sick to work or mismanaged my money that I don’t have enough for the bus (mind you, I’m 22, no kids, and live in one of the poorest cities making more money than any of my peers…I should always have money).

I’ve been on heroin for about three years now and am very functional and pretty unassuming since I’m attractive, young, smart, and since I snort it, have no physical signs of abuse. Sadly, I am starting to lose control and cannot break this habit and feel the only way to do so is either go to treatment (have to figure out a way since I opted out of health insurance so I can have more money in my paycheck) or detox at home. But I don’t have the PTO to do so. Would it be a good idea to talk to HR to give me some time to take care of myself? Will a company be sympathetic to this? (Mind you, I am very valued and have helped my manager tremendously in making our department more productive and organized, so I think I am a valued member.) Even if they don’t afford me more days, would I get fired for admitting my issue in an attempt to get unpaid leave? Also, I was not drug tested for this job. It’s a family-owned business. I need help and don’t know where to start.

Okay, first the law: If your employer has 50 or more employers, you’re qualified for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). FMLA allows you to take off up to 12 weeks per year unpaid for medical reasons; you can’t be fired for it.* If your employer has 15 or more employees, you may also be protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discriminating against people with disabilities, which in many cases includes drug addiction.

As for what to tell your boss — I was going to suggest that you be vague and just say it’s a medical issue that will require hospitalization (although you’d probably need to disclose more if you want the protection of the ADA). But everything I read from addiction centers seems to suggest telling your employer that you’ll be going to rehab. Personally, I’m not sure about that element, and I think you’re the best judge of how your employer will react.

* As I was finalizing this post for publication, I realized you’ve only been there for eight months. Since FMLA protection doesn’t kick in until you’ve been there a year, I’m now coming down on the side of being honest that you want to check yourself into rehab and seeing what you can negotiate with your employer. And even if they won’t agree to hold your job, I’d prioritize the rehab and your health over the job. You can get another job, I promise.

Read an update to this letter here.

2. I share a co-working space with a jerk

I’m having an issue with a person who sits near me in a shared co-working space. She and I work for different organizations but are in the same industry, so maintaining a pleasant acquaintance-ship feels important.

This young woman sits across from me and is incredibly abusive to one of her older coworkers – who she appears to outrank but who does not seem to report directly to her. She is unnecessarily biting and rude throughout the day to this woman in person, and when the older coworker is not in the office, complains about her loudly to their other coworkers. It’s not my organization, so I don’t feel comfortable saying something directly, but it’s so hard to listen to all day. I have taken to constantly listening to music through headphones while working at my desk, and will likely be able to relocate to a different desk in a few months, but do you have any ideas for me as to how to address this problem in the meantime, if at all?

Ooooh, this is tough since she’s not actually a coworker. If she were, I’d suggest talking to her privately and saying something like, “I’m sure you don’t realize this, but the way you talk to and about Jane comes across really harshly. It’s difficult to hear, and I’m sure it must be even harder on the receiving end.”

But in this case, because you don’t actually work together, you have less standing. Depending on your relationship, though, you might be able to say something similar. Or you might be able to speak up in the moment — even a just well-timed “wow” or “jeez, Cordelia” might make her realize how she’s coming across (and if nothing else, might make the targeted coworker feel better).

3. My boss told me I’m overpaid

I make a good salary at my job and have other privileges, like getting to work from home one day a week. I just had a baby, which has impacted my work/life balance but probably not dramatically, and no one has said anything to indicate that it has. I make more than most of my peers, but I also have more responsibility and do more things..

I was in a meeting with my boss, and we were talking about a new initiative I thought of to get our patients a discount on Vitamix blenders (they have conditions which would make this advantageous). I mentioned that they were very expensive and that I had one, and joked that I only had one because my car had been totalled and I was able to use the insurance payout. (We have a very collegial relationship, and this would not be out of the ordinary/inappropriate to share.) He laughed and said, “That’s okay, I know we overpay you.”

I’m sure I looked briefly surprised and hurt (I don’t have much of a poker face), but I took it in stride and just sort of clumsily went on with my pitch for the project.

I have been thinking about asking about taking on new responsibilities and a promotion/job change within this department, to a more middle management position. I’m not sure when, but now I’m not sure what to think. I wouldn’t want to take on more responsibility without more money. My annual review is coming up, and I had been planning on asking about a long-term plan for moving on up, but now, I’m not sure what my strategy should be. My boss is usually very candid, but very careful with words. What do you think? Was that just offhanded ribbing, or was he trying to tell me something? Is this intel, or am I overthinking/being neurotic?

You are reading way too much into it. It sounds very much like an attempt at a good-natured joke to me, not a serious message that he thinks you’re overpaid. Put it out of your head and pretend it never happened.

4. Can I tell a library patron that his resume is terrible?

I work as the director at a very small public library, so I basically wear all the hats! One part of my job is assisting people who need help with the computers. Lately, I’ve been helping an older gentleman who is applying for jobs. He told me he retired, but now needs to find a second career, unrelated to his 40 years of previous experience.

He was applying for a job online, but only had physical copies of his resume with him, so I offered to scan it for him and email him the scans. Well, it was seven pages! There was a page for each job he had, including giving out promotional samples. There was also a page listing equipment he was familiar with — technical equipment, but also things like office copy machine and his particular brand of cell phone. Also the email address on his resume didn’t work. The email he actually uses is in someone else’s name.

I want to tell him that he should tailor it to the field he wants to get into, not the field he was in. And I want to tell him to trim it down to a page or two! But this is my first post-college job, and I’ve often been told I look younger than my age. I’m afraid that he won’t take me seriously, or that I’ll be meddling. He hasn’t asked for help with the resume, just with the computer. Also, I wonder if I help him too much, if he’ll be misrepresenting his computer skills to a hiring manager. What do you think?

I don’t know what the professional boundaries are for librarians with stuff like this (but we have lots of librarian readers, who will hopefully chime in), but my thought would be that rather than giving him resume guidance yourself, you should refer him to some up-to-date sources. For example, you could say, “Most guidance on resumes says that your resume shouldn’t be more than two pages. Here are a couple of really good sources of information — I recommend that you take a look at them before you start sending out your resume.”

5. Is this an exception to the rule about not mentioning high school in a job application?

I’m one year out of college and am approaching the end of my AmeriCorps program, which will conclude in mid-June. I’ve begun my job search, and I’ve found a position at a public library I would love.

The application asks if I have experience working or volunteering in a library. I do — I volunteered for my first two years of high school and worked as a student worker for the second two years at this very branch. Many of my former coworkers and supervisors are still there, and I know I’m remembered fondly. I know convention says not to include anything from high school once you’re out of college, but would this be an exception?

I would just include it in my cover letter and not my resume, but this is a multi step government online application that asks flat out if I have this work or volunteer experience. What should I do?

Yes, I think you’ve found an exception to the no-high-school rule. When you’re being asked a direct question, you should answer it — even if it means referencing stuff from high school.