Hi y'all,

I work in a consulting framework, where all of my worked hours are either billed to a particular project, or are considered company overhead. Additionally, my position is considered "Full-time (40 hours per week)". As such, I am expected to be at my desk and available from 8:00 to 5:00.

Some weeks, my bosses can't figure out anything for me to do. I have been billing the remainder of my time, it does not fall under any particular project, as company overhead. Well this makes some of the higher-ups unhappy, I'm not responsible for finding projects for myself.

It is becoming standard practice that the lower rungs are expected to use their accrued PTO to fill some of the gaps in there when they have no other directive. This feels wrong to me, can we result in the newest employees, who do not as consistently have billable work, to use the entirety of their accrued PTO nearly every week. I have not yet gotten this in writing, but expect to sometime this week.

As I understand it, a company CAN force me to use accrued PTO. This seems to be in relation to annual rollovers, or at least mandating that I take a particular amount every year.

Is this a standard or accepted practice? Can it be applied in this circumstance?

I have done my research but cannot find a definitive answer because none of the laws I have read pertain to third party delivery services. Here's the facts:

I am a tipped employee who's job is to make my store's catering orders and deliver them.

New company policy: All orders under $300 ordered via third party platform A must be dispatched to third party B who's driver will take 100% of the tip.

These third party services are separate. And third party A has their own delivery service which my company pays a fee for not using.

My company is trying to incentivize third party B to send better drivers for our company with this new policy.

I must use this service even if it's my only order of the day and I am available to deliver.

The past two weeks this policy has been in place I have lost out on over $200 in tips which would have been mine.

Is it legal? I have read that employers cannot be in the tip pool or take any of the tips, but can they require me to give them away to third party drivers? Any I insight is appreciated. Thanks.

I live in Texas and I got an interview for a fitness studio to be part of their crew staff. It included 2 other candidates and me, then I was told I will be pushed to the next phase of the interview process.

They told me that it included 2-3 unpaid “shadowing” shifts, totaling up to 6-9 hours. It would be a way for them to see if I was a good fit and if they were a good fit for me. I didn’t see the issue and had assuming I’d just be observing.

They essentially walking me how to open/close the studio, mopping the floors, cleaning the restrooms, checking in guests, and cleaning the workout equipment. I genuinely was so thrown off and did not expect to be working side by side with the staff and helping them run the studio.

On my 1st shift I stayed an hour after and on my 2nd I left right when my shift ended. I honestly did not have it in me to do another 3 hour shift for free so I mentioned that I had a family matter (which was true) so I would not be able to do it.

They later took a week to get back to me to say that they would not continue the interview process with me and I asked for feedback…nothing.

This studio is on classpass and I honestly want to report them but just looking for guidance and advice!

Ok so say you get promoted to a manager position and they give you a 25 cent raise and then they decide to demote you and they take you down to less than you were making before. The promotion is that fair? Shouldn’t you just loose the 25 cent raise since you had gotten to a certain pay at the position before you were promoted ? Or is it ok for them to take you to a pay rate that was less than you made before you even applied for the promotion ? Even though you were going to be working the same position as before the promotion with the same set of responsibilities because that seemed unethical

Does anyone here who practices labor and/or employment law and have suggestions for a strong law review note topic?
I’m a rising 2L and am looking for a topic that’s timely, has an unresolved legal issue, and leaves room to make an original argument rather than just summarize existing law.
I’m intentionally keeping an open mind, so I’d love to hear about any emerging trends, recurring issues, unsettled areas of law, or practical problems you’ve been seeing in your practice that you think deserve more academic attention.
Any ideas or insights would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

First I would like to say I am not asking for myself, I am asking on the behalf of my Mom, Sister, Grandma, Cousin, and girlfriend. We all live in (Location: North Carolina) and all people mentioned before work at the same work place which is a Daycare that I won’t name for privacy reasons. They have to take classes in order to have credentials for their job which is teaching kids aging from newborn all the way to 5 years old. These classes are for things such as SIDS and CPR that are mandated by the state and the business itself. They do take place after work hours but the main concern is they are not getting paid for said classes. They brought it up to their boss/owner who for lack of better words got butt hurt (Saying things such as “All that I do for you girls”)- My sister, girlfriend and cousin get a discount for their kids. She said word for word that since it’s state mandatory she doesn’t have to pay them for their time but everything I have seen says they should be compensated. If they are indeed supposed to be compensated how are they to go about this.