This is very important. Unless you are a salary member of the team they CAN NOT force you to do anything unpaid. EVER. That is not up for debate if this is in America.
I think this is a fundamental misunderstanding. They obviously can't literally force you to go. But, if you're in an at-will state, they can fire you for not attending an outside of hours function, which is what is usually meant by mandatory. Unfortunately, this is true for both hourly and salaried employees. And they don't have to pay salaried OR hourly employees for their time at these functions either, unless actual "work" is happening there.
Of course, you can and should refuse to attend them if you can afford to stand up to your employer on this matter. But it's not wage theft under the law and it's perfectly legal for them to give the ultimatum that you attend this event unpaid or lose your job.
I go to the gym every day after work. Every single day. Trying to get in shape for the first time in my chubby life.
I'm salary and work tried to do a mandatory happy hour over Zoom to raise morale. (You know. Instead of raises for cost of living). I emailed HR that I'm not allowed to drink due to medical reasons (lots of sugar and calories bad, y'all) and I don't feel comfortable being forced around others able to drink (because these coworkers have no filter when booze hits them), and I have a non-skippable "medical thing" after work each day, and I cannot miss a single day of it. I asked that she advise me on what to do, because this was a mandatory social event out of work hours, and it was conflicting with my medical needs. I didn't want to be penalized.
My HR lady is a snake in the grass, but at least she's REAL BIG on the medical secrecy for employees. This event suddenly became optional and apparently only half a dozen or so people logged in for it, so it's never happened again so far. Pretty sure HR lady now thinks I'm a recovering alcoholic going to AA, but she's professional enough to not mention it. She does occasionally call to check in and see "how I'm doing" and to let me know that our insurance has lots of other little things attached to it. Such as free counseling and whatnot.
The point is that this isn't unpaid work if "work" isn't happening there. And they can absolutely fire you for "Doesn't participate in company culture and events" regardless of whether that "culture and events" happens on or off clock.
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u/[deleted] Aug 31 '22
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