The holidays can be an exciting, stressful, emotional and hectic time of year. People are distracted, worried about finances, planning holiday parties and organizing family gatherings to celebrate, and usually these things are impacted by a person’s job.
People don’t just stop working around the holidays. They still need to collect a paycheck and protect benefits, both of which can be enormously crucial during this time of year. However, this relationship between holidays and working can and often does result in some disputes that can turn out to be quite serious. Knowing what these are could help employers and employees across Florida hopefully avoid them.
- Wage disputes: There are numerous state and federal holidays observed in Florida. On these days, there are different rules to consider in terms of wages. In many cases, workers are afforded a paid day off; others are to receive holiday pay if they work on these days. Failure to properly compensate people can be grounds for a legal claim.
- Discrimination: Holidays this month are generally tied to religion in some way. Treating people differently because of their religion — for instance, making people who do or not practice a certain religion work — is discrimination.
- Workplace misconduct: Many people try to multi-task during the holidays and may do some online shopping at work or try to finish up personal projects using company materials and resources. If these are prohibited acts, employers will want to make sure employees understand what they can and cannot do and what consequences exist for violations.
- Harassment: Holiday work parties, especially those involving alcohol, can lead some people to believe they can ignore workplace policies that prohibit harassment. Setting clear and enforceable expectations and rules for conduct at these functions can be crucial.
Employment disputes can be upsetting; hopefully, you will be able to avoid them. However, if you do find yourself in a situation that you are unsure how to handle relating to alleged employment misconduct, consulting with an employment attorney will help protect you.
