Worker's rights question

Hopefully someone can answer this question for me or point me in the right direction.

If your line of work requires you to be outside(ie:landscaping, roofing ect) are you required to work in the rain? If you refuse can your boss legally fire you for not wanting to?

Here is an employment law website - a forum just like this one where you can post your questions and get replies by professionals. Good luck!

http://www.ahipubs.com/cgi-bin/ubb/f...r=1&DaysPrune=

Well I deal with employers liability claims and would say from experience that if the job itself is an outdoor job that the employee would have knowledge and expect that outdoor work can mean working in bad weather conditions, although not extremely bad conditions i.e thunderstorms ect. Although your employer should probably provide you with the necessary waterproof clothing

Although I don't know if this differs from American law.

In California, an employer does not have to give a reason for letting you go.....

"Your services are no longer needed" is all they need.

What Lhezzza is talking about is called "employment at will" that means that unless you have a contract you can quit at any time in turn the employer can let you go at any time. This I belive is nationwide.

Thanks for your replies! Helen, I went and posted my question on that BB. Thanks again!!

Most companies have an at will policy, Jessica. This means they don't need a reason to let anyone go, all they need to do is say "you are not needed any longer".


My brother owns his own company which does outdoor work, and they work out in the rain all the time. Its part of the job, and his employees know this when they are hired.

I guess I should say why I'm asking the question... It would make a little more sense.

Brian, as I've said works for an excavating company and he's worked as a roofer for several years before that so he's never had a problem working in the rain even though he never liked it. I can't really blame him but anyways the company he works for does not supply any rain or snow gear so the guys are expected to buy it themselves.

Last fall he had rain gear that my dad gave him but it got ruined in the spring so he hasn't had any and with what they pay him he hasn't had the extra money to buy any. Last week he became very sick, vommiting, stuffy nose, headaches ect. but he went to work anyway.

Friday is was rainy and windy but he showed up anyway in hopes they'd see how sick he was and just tell him to go home. Unfortunatly they told him to work even though he was very sick. I know he probably said a few words he shouldn't have but he said and basically said I'm sick if I go out and work I'm going to get sicker and I cannot afford to go to the doctor. His boss became very angry and told him to go home.

Mind you on Wednesday he hit 40 hours so Friday was overtime. Today all of his co-workers gave him the cold shoulder and his boss wouldn't talk to him. Rumor has it he was supposed to be fired but he figured that his boss didn't since he had worked over 40 hours. **shrugs** I'm just urging him to find a new job. The b.s. he has to put up with isn't worth it and there's plenty of places he could go to.

Sounds to me like he needs a new job.

Yep definitely time to find a new job. He does not deserve to be treated like that.

He doesnot deserve to be treated the way he did Sometimes, I wonder about companies & the way they treat their employees. Doesn't an employer see what can possibly happen if he was already that sick? He could have gotten pnemonia, etc and he got treated that way. If it were me, I'd speak to a person in HR or something....
I hope your hubby will be able to find a better job where he is treated with respect.

It's too bad Brian was treated that way, especially with how long he has worked for that company. Unfortunately, especially in the construction industry and in this economy, they do this a lot. (I used to work for a construction company.) They know that there are 100 other guys who will do the same job, probably for less money. The good thing is that with his experience, he shouldn't have too much of a problem finding another job.

All that being said, it wasn't fair at all that they made him work as sick as he was. No matter how abundant laborers (skilled and unskilled) are, he is still a person and should be treated with dignity and respect. There are companies that do that, the one I worked for treated our construction workers well, but unfortunately they are somewhat hard to find.