It's sleazy — but is it illegal?
Friend of mine works for a large corporation, the identity of which I will delicately avoid mentioning.
Like most big corporations, they offer a decent benefits package. And like most big corporations, they can be incredibly miserly.
The company policy is that anyone who works at least 21 hours a week qualifies for benefits. My friend works four days a week — 28 hours. But she doesn't get benefits.
Her human resources office explained that, "officially," she is only scheduled for 15 hours a week. I can't figure out quite what they mean by "scheduled." I've seen her work schedules — she's been listed for the 28+ hours a week she works for the past year.
I have only a little experience with human resource policies. I temped for a few months in an H.R. office, and I briefly had a gig doing corporate training that included teaching managers about hiring and benefits policies at a security firm. (The main theme of that training was: Don't do anything that could expose the company to litigation.)
Based on this minimal experience, I'm wondering if the behavior of the company where my friend works is strictly legal.
It seems to me they're keeping two sets of books on her. One "unofficial" schedule records the actual hours of work she is assigned and accomplishes. The second, "official" but fictive schedule records the hours for which she is credited by her human resources office. Her paycheck is based on the former, which is based on the real world. Her benefits are based on the latter, which is unofficial and apparently arbitrary.
The company's actions would clearly be fraudulent and illegal if they tried to base her wages on the artificial "official" schedule. But I'm not sure if the rules for benefits are the same as the rules for wages. (It seems to me that they should be — benefits are part of an employee's compensation, after all.)
Anybody out there have any legal expertise in this area?
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