3 Common Things Your Boss Actually Can’t Force You To Do, According To An Employment Lawyer
Employers get away with way too much!
Andrii Iemelianenko | Shutterstock If you're lucky, you end up at a fantastic company with a great boss who respects you. But most of the time, employers put what's best for the company ahead of their employees.
According to an employment lawyer, they're often taking this to an outright illegal extent—and it goes totally unnoticed because most workers don't know their rights.
The employment lawyer shared 3 common things your boss can't legally do but happen all the time at our jobs.
If there's one thing social media has revealed in recent years, it's that there are a lot of employers out there with an awful lot of audacity.
Case in point: the information that employment lawyer and TikToker Craig Levey shared recently on TikTok. His video included three employment practices that are things most of us have experienced at least once in our careers — despite the fact they are full-tilt illegal.
1. Force employees to resign
Terminating an employee is one thing — and unfortunately, the US's ill-conceived "at will" employment laws mean they can do so at any time for any reason so long as it's not illegal.
But what's an employer to do when the circumstances of termination might set off legal warning bells? As we've all likely witnessed a time or two, they'll try to "compel a resignation."
This is sometimes called "constructive discharge" and is defined by the Department of Labor as a situation in which an employer creates a "hostile or intolerable work environment" or applies other forms of pressure, such as drastic changes to a job so a worker will quit. State laws vary as to the definition, so be sure you know the details in your home state.
"This is important," Levey said, "because if an employee resigns from their job, this could have implications on their application for unemployment benefits," as well as their ability to sue their employer.
2. Refuse to pay overtime for certain employees.
Of course, this varies greatly depending on your pay structure. Most, but not all, salaried employees are not eligible for overtime — though that changed substantially as of July 1, 2024, when the Biden-Harris Administration raised the salary threshold for overtime by nearly $10,000 from $43,888 to $58,656, making many more workers now eligible for overtime.
The Fair Labor Standards Act also exempts certain types of work from overtime — namely executives, administrators, outside sales, highly specialized professionals, and many computer-based jobs like programmers.
But "if…they do not fall within one of the exemptions set forth by the Fair Labor Standards Act or FLSA," Levey said, then employers must pay that worker overtime — and they rely on you to not know this, so make sure you know your eligibility.
3. Hold your final paycheck "hostage."
Most of us have, at one time or another, been told our final paycheck will be held until we return company equipment, uniform pieces, or the like. But Levey said this very common practice is flat-out illegal.
"If you've earned that paycheck, once you've provided services to an employer, you have earned those wages," he said, "and a company cannot withhold them."
So what does this mean for that company-owned laptop or phone you haven't returned yet? Well, that's between you and the bossman, but the paycheck they're holding back to compel you to fork it over is yours, regardless!
Hopefully, you're lucky enough to work for an honorable, honest person and company. But even if you are, it's always good to know your rights — because all too many companies rely on your ignorance to penny-pinch in any way they can. Don't let them get away with it.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.