Can I be fired for refusing to work more hours?

Olywa · January 2012

I have worked for my company for 7+ years. I used to be a salaried manager but when I became pregnant with my second child last year I stepped down from my position and am now in an hourly "administrative" position.

When I was hired for this new position it was for 32 hours a week. I have a letter from HR stating this. Now, my boss has a new boss. We have a vacancy in our department and this new boss wants to "restructure" our positions. She does not want to hire a new person to fill the vacancy and wants me to pick up some of the responsibilities (in addition to all my other ones).

I spoke to her and my immediate boss and told them that I have concerns about being able to get all my jobs done and done well with a 32 hour a week schedule. She seemed surprised that I work 32 hours (I don't know of anyone else in our administrative offices who works 32 hours...they are all at 40 hours). She implied that I would have to start working 40 hours. I told her that is not possible due to childcare issues (and frankly..I don't want or need to work 40 hours). She said "well, that may be a problem" and ended the conversation there.

I live/work in a "free will employment" state, if that makes any difference.

Thanks for sharing any insight you may have!

pdxjenn · January 2012

Hi there,

I am an HR manager. Based upon the info your provided I would say they are within their rights to restructure the position. If you couldn't work within the new guidelines then you would be at risk.

However, if you have an employment contract... probably not... then that would be a different situation.

Also, the only other caveat would be if you feel the restructuring is discrimination or their effort to try and fire you then I would look into speaking with your boss. If they are simply restructuring to try and save money by combining positions... then that sucks, but it's happening all over the place these days. I was laid off in August for a similar reason.

Your termination wouldn't be "for cause" necessarily and you should qualify for unemployment. Hope that helped!

luvmagoldn · January 2012

pdxjenn:

Hi there,

I am an HR manager. Based upon the info your provided I would say they are within their rights to restructure the position. If you couldn't work within the new guidelines then you would be at risk.

However, if you have an employment contract... probably not... then that would be a different situation.

Also, the only other caveat would be if you feel the restructuring is discrimination or their effort to try and fire you then I would look into speaking with your boss. If they are simply restructuring to try and save money by combining positions... then that sucks, but it's happening all over the place these days. I was laid off in August for a similar reason.

Your termination wouldn't be "for cause" necessarily and you should qualify for unemployment. Hope that helped!

Exactly this. The company can restructure positions at any time. If they are firm on the position working 40 hours and you are firm on only working 32 you will have to find another position somewhere else.

I work part-time so I totally get where you are coming from. But you have to remember that the company will do what is best for the business - it does not have to conform to what is best for you.

Becky19 · January 2012

I'm an employment lawyer, and yes, you can. If you are at-will you can be fired for any lawful reason, with or without notice.

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Can I be fired for refusing to work more hours?

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