Work Related Legal Questions...Long

cbkeni

Hi! Sorry I never post here, I live in NH but I work in MA so I figured I'd ask you ladies for help. Does anyone know anything about Employee rights or anything along those lines in MA? Here's the deal:

My job sucks balls, I get paid $12.50 (40 hrs) NEVER given the chance to work OT I have no paid time off (sick days, vacation, personal days) because I only started here in April, the health insurance is terrible and I have paid at least $300 a month in medical bills that my insurance apparently doesn't cover. When I have the baby they offer 8 weeks UNPAID maternity leave and I'll have to pay them $80 a month to keep my insurance.

On top of that when we had the storm in October my work lost power for 2 days so we were closed, I just got my check from that week and I was only paid for 2 days (Wednesday and Thursday, I took Friday off because I was super sick so I expected to not get paid for that). So they didn't pay me for the 2 days that they closed.

Basically what happened was I had the most super job ever with good pay and AWESOME perks until the end of March when they laid me off, this was the first job I got offered so I took it thinking it was the responsible thing to do rather than sit and collect unemployment and decided I would keep looking but in the meantime I'd work here (I didn't even like the place when I came in for the interview). When the woman called to offer me the job I asked about the pay because it wasn't mentioned in the interview and she said she wasn't the person who handled that and that the person who handled it wasn't in that day so she couldn't find out (red flag), but again I figured whatever this will hold me over. When I came in for my first day I asked again about the pay and the HR Rep (who has NO training and basically just decided one day she would handle the HR duties) told me $11.50 and then immediately said "Please don't quit!" Literally the DAY I started I wanted to quit but I sucked it up and 2 weeks later I found out I was pregnant. I have NEVER once stopped looking for another job but haven't had any luck, now I'm 8 weeks away  from my due date and while I know it's not legal I feel like no one will hire me at this point because I'm obviously pregnant (but I'm still looking anyway, I just have WAY less hope). 

So I'm just wondering with all this shady crap going on if there's ANYTHING I can do. I can't afford to miss ANY work with what I'm getting paid, much less a couple weeks after the baby, I'm already falling behind on all my bills. I keep trying to read up on FMLA but it's a tiny company with only about 30 employees (on the books anyway) so I don't think they qualify. And since the "HR Rep" is not only clueless about that stuff but I have found out is also the Devil I can't ask her and I don't really know where to look on my own.

First of all is all this legal (not paying me when the office was closed and whatnot) and second is there anywhere I can find out this info besides my friendly HR Rep?

Thanks for any help you can give me. Also sorry it's so long...

ARez726

I was curious about FMLA myself, so I looked it up and found this fact sheet: https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs28.pdf.  You're right, you don't qualify for a couple of reasons...your company isn't big enough and you haven't been working with them long enough.

I think it's completely legal to not pay you, especially if you're an hourly (as opposed to salaried) employee.  At my company, even though I am salaried, we are basically expected to put in 40 hours, regardless of the power situation (which happened to me, as well).  That means either working on the weekend, or working more than 8 hours on the days when the office was open.

Seems like your benefits clearly suck and you hate your job, so I don't know why you would cease to look for new employment.  As far as when and if you'll get hired, who knows, but at least you're getting your face out there!  Don't give up.  Doesn't seem like you were going to, but I wouldn't quit, at least for the insurance alone...paying them $80 a month is a heck of a lot cheaper than the bills you would incur from having a baby.  I have no idea whether you qualify or not, but you could consider applying for MassHealth to supplement your existing health benefits: https://www.mass.gov/eohhs/consumer/insurance/masshealth-apply/under-65-and-families/basic-eligibility.html

As far as where to look for more information, I would try the state website: https://www.mass.gov/portal/jobs-education/worker-resources/

ARez726

Well....that's weird....I had it open for awhile and finally posted at 11:11 am on 11/11/11!!

saraboston

I hate to say this, but I think PP is exactly right. The 8 weeks complies with MA law and the days off wouldn't be required if you're paid hourly. Any chance they'll give you extra hours to make up for those days? Good luck with everything!

christiney06

yeah, sorry,  there is nothing shady going on, it's just not a great job. in fact it sounds very typical these days.  good luck finding a better one, 

jenvalet

Since you work in MA, you are covered under MMLA, so they legally have to give you 8 weeks off, though they do not at all have to pay you.  If there are more than 50 employees, then you would be covered under FMLA, so you would be entitled to 12 weeks off, but again, they do not have to pay you.

 Do you normally pay $80/month for insurance?  If you don't, I don't think they can charge you to keep it while you're on maternity leave.  If you do normally pay it, then you still have to.

I assume you don't have short or long term disability benefits.  If you do, that might pay you something.