Is my employer allowed to revoke my holiday pay without telling me?
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Is my employer allowed to revoke my holiday pay without telling me?
I am a manger of a small drop store for a dry cleaning company. I am only allowed to have 2 other employees to my store besides myself one woman who is much older, refuses to work week days prior to 2 pm or any weekend hours. She has been with the company longer than I. Due to her work demands it is up to me to cover any shifts that she or my weekend girl need off. Long story shirt, my weekend girl accidentally told me the wrong date that she needed off – a date that I happened to be moving which the company knew about because I asked to borrow a delivery van so I didn’t have to pay for a moving truck. I received a phone call from the owner of the company about how my store was not open and that I needed to go there immediately – so I dropped everything and went to open the store. The next day was MLK day – a paid holiday for us – the general manger of the company decided that I
Asked on September 20, 2016 under Employment Labor Law, New Hampshire
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
The law does not require holiday pay or a holiday premium, so an employer can revoke it at will. But they have to give you notice *before* they revoke it--i.e. before the holiday. Employers can freely change compensation, pay, etc. (as long as there is no written contract specifying or setting it; if there is a contract, the employer must pay as per the contract), but such changes are only effective from when they are announced forward. Work done up to the moment a change is announced is done under the terms and at the rate which existed prior to the change. So if the employer did not tell you about the change prior to MLK day, you should have gotten your holiday pay; if they did tell you before, you would not be entitled to it.
If not told in advance, so that you should have received your holiday pay, if you did not get it, you could in theory sue for it; however, it is questionable whether even a small claims suit is worth what seems to be, based on on what you written, an additional $6.25/hour for 7 hours, or $43.75.
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