Legal Question in Employment Law in Georgia

Overtime-Can I sometimes refuse??

I have worked at a plant location as a general laborer for 20 years.I have always worked an avg of 55-65 hrs per week-always working when asked with only a few rare exceptions.I am rarely given any type of fore-warning when being asked to work over-I am usually asked to work over when the lead man comes in-when my shift is ending.I have ALWAYS worked over whenever it did not conflict with prior obligations.I told my employer that I wouldn't be able to work over on a Saturday morning,due to a family obligation,I had already put in my 8 hr shift and finished a 60 hr week.My employer said he was going to write me up for refusing overtime and try to get me fired for it.My work record speaks for itself-Can my employer write me up and fire me for refusing to work over-on rare occasions only-I have asked that they give me a day's notice & I'll work it out to be there-if it has to be on short notice-I will be there as long as I don't have a previous obligation.

Is this legal?Thanks.


Asked on 1/31/04, 12:55 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Ms. Tran Lankford Tran Lankford, Attorney at Law

Re: Overtime-Can I sometimes refuse??

The short answer to your question is you can be fired. Georgia, like a good number of other states, is an employment-at-will state. In other words, unless you are protected by tenure, Collective Bargaining Agreement, etc., you can be hired and fired at-will, unless the firing was for an illegal reason such as discrimination.

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Answered on 2/03/04, 4:31 pm


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