Can my US fiance just be refused time off for emmigrating/helping me move?

[SunDrop 59]

But it's not Petco so much as it's this particular Manager/Supervisor - and she is has to be held accountable. She doesn't have the final say on whether or not he continues employment. She still has to justify her reasons to the company, and if he goes to her boss with valid reasons, any retaliation by her can be considered just that, retaliation.

And yes, they can hire someone else to cover those 4 days, at the expense of having to retrain an employee and wait for them to get up to speed before they're capable of doing the job he can already do. It's rather more cost-effective for them to keep him and let him have the time off.

But, I understand that reason doesn't always prevail.

Large companies who have HR departments don't give a rat's behind about their "Russ"es. The very name Human Resources is incredibly misleading because they are not there as a resource to the humans, they are there to ensure that the company compiles with statutory regulations to indemnify said company against litigation and associated costs. They also manage the Resource itself, viewing it as a total asset. Employees are expendable, replaceable commodities. Brutally simple.

Respectfully to RussandRachel, Russ is a store clerk from the sounds of things. There are many, many experienced retail/ sales associates who are desperate for work. A til is a til, customer service is customer service, and working in such a capacity requires very little training above the minimal amount of unique company procedure. "If a dog is with its owner at the checkout, offer a biscuit from here," vs. "this is how we allow a customer to smell a perfume they are considering purchasing."

US employment, both in obtaining and retaining it is dog-eat-dog. This translates to like it or lump it more often than not, and especially so when the request could be seen as overly demanding. And asking for 2 periods of leave during 1 quarter would probably be viewed by most as unreasonable, where 1 is entirely avoidable.

Obviously, they should at the very least make inquiries about it at a higher level. But doing so by foot-stomping and waving "his rights" around will only serve to poke a stick in the already buzzing hornet's nest. From previous threads, they are very dependent on Russ' income for both their new apartment and also for AOS. Only they can weigh up the risk of standing their ground and maybe getting what they want from the company in terms of leave, but potentially marking a big X on his back vs. sucking it up, keeping the job and the source of income.

What's really frustrating, I do appreciate, is that his ticket has already been booked

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

This is, unfortunately, true. How much concession an employer is willing to give an employee is often directly related to that employee's value to the company. That value is a measure of how essential that employee's work is to the continued operation and profitability of the company, and how easy or difficult it would be to replace that employee. Most retail stores have literally hundreds of job applications on file at any given time, and a new employee can usually be trained to fill most positions in a matter of hours. This makes the value of each employee practically zero, from the company's point of view.

Federal and state labor laws can often be used to "rock the boat" in an attempt to get the employer to do something the employee wants them to do, or believes they have a right to ask the employer to do. However, it's incredibly easy for an employer to set an employee up to fail, giving the employer justifiable grounds to fire the employee. Employers don't like trouble makers. Again, how much trouble they are willing to accept from an employee is directly proportional to the value of the employee to the employer. An employee who has a high value to the employer will usually not have to make any trouble because the employer will generally give them what they want.

The bottom line is that if you are employed in an unskilled labor job, then you're not in a position to ask your employer for much. If you ask and they refuse, you don't have much recourse. You can either accept the refusal, walk away from the job, or attempt to rock the boat and hope you don't get fired for it. Being stuck in a low paying job with a tyrannical boss is no fun. The way out of this mess is to improve your job skills so that you can get a job where you are more valuable to your employer.

The other side of this coin though is this - there ARE more retail jobs out there right now than other occupations. As such a good conscientious clerk does have choices and opportunities.

Russ could always start looking for another job like the Petco one he has at the moment. He's got a full two months before Rachel comes over. If he finds someone interested in him, they might be willing to give him his time off if he explains it right up front. He could even be forthright and explain that difficulties with his present manager are the reason he's looking for new work. Albeit these are not issues for the first interview, but all manner of things can be negotiated in a new job if diplomacy and honesty are used.

[SunDrop 59]

The other side of this coin though is this - there ARE more retail jobs out there right now than other occupations. As such a good conscientious clerk does have choices and opportunities.

Russ could always start looking for another job like the Petco one he has at the moment. He's got a full two months before Rachel comes over. If he finds someone interested in him, they might be willing to give him his time off if he explains it right up front. He could even be forthright and explain that difficulties with his present manager are the reason he's looking for new work. Albeit these are not issues for the first interview, but all manner of things can be negotiated in a new job if diplomacy and honesty are used.

This is an interesting perspective and boy, what a way to really throw a V up at the manager. Line up a new job to start when he gets back from the March trip, with the admission and agreement that he can take time off for his wedding only a couple of months after starting. Then quit Petco, with a last working day being the day before he leaves on said trip.

I like the notion of thinking outside of the box to the solution, Rachel. I know it's a frustrating and hair-pulling situation but sometimes things have a funny way of working themselves out. Look at the difficulty you had finding somewhere that was right for you to live, and how that turned about for you both in the end

[Fandango 1,439]

It's really a question of, does he want to rock the boat and lose the potential for all the time off for the wedding.

I just quit a menial, hourly job (sorry to put it that way, but that's the way I see it)...years ago, as I am self employed, and did not have enough history to satisfy the affidavit of support, I took a second job in a major department store's salon as a nail tech (am licensed for 20 years now). Anyways, I digress.

I stayed at the job because I liked it, was v good money, bennies and it was conducive to my schedule. But when I needed to use my accrued time off during a time that was not convenient for the company, they raised a major stink about it. LIKE, MAJOR. To the point that right before I went, the store manager was basically threatening me that I'd have no job to come back to. At that point, I told them to stuff it and I quit. It worked out fine for me because I anticipated such a problem, and also, it wasn't my primary job anyways, so I wasn't stuck for $$$. Had that been the case, I would have thought long and hard about it, because jobs are kinda hard to come by....no matter how sh!t the job is, there's 10 schmos behind you gagging for the chance to do yours.

Ironically, because of all my experience in the beauty field, they weren't able to replace me. They lost all my customers and now do not offer any acrylic services. Short sighted? Absolutely. But they took this 'we're in charge' stupid attitude, and now they lost because of it, and I'm sittin here laughin my azz off.

As far as the FMLA, I've seen that company get around things like that. Our receptionist was pregnant, and they wound up slowly cutting down her hours several months before her leave so that she no longer qualified for any job protection. She did consult various agencies that basically told her she had no recourse whatsoever.

Anyways, I'm rambling, lol...but I suppose my point is, you have to decide what's ultimately more important. Stand your ground and make waves, if you must. But realize that you're really not going to 'give employers a hard time if they mess you about' and come out smelling like a rose, either. Not with an entry level retail job.