Legal Question in Business Law in Pennsylvania

Employer forces employees to participate in community service.

My question is fairly general. Is there any law prohibbiting an employer from requiring an employee or employees to participate in community service? My company has recently required that all employees complete at least 20 hours of community service for the calendar year. If the community service is not completed, the employee will not receive their performance based increase for the following year. Performance being the key word. They are using off the job related activies as part of the employees work performance. Any thoughts, laws, or cases to support or back up this type of employer regulations?

Thank you for your time,


Asked on 3/31/06, 4:23 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Roger Traversa Arjont Group (Law Office of Roger Traversa)

Re: Employer forces employees to participate in community service.

There is a lot of contention about this issue. Generally an employer may not require peformance of specific taks or requirements of time outside the employment. Even where an employee is classified as "exempt" there is a lot of law suggesting that the employer is taking big risks.

There is the alternative argument that an employer can 1) require participation in outside activities (e.g. employees must belong to a civic organization), 2) fire an employee for any non-discriminatory reason.

My suggestion is that you point this matter out to the legal personnel for the employer, on a freindly basis. The employer would have a much better position if it said employees would be rewarded for such activities rather than requiring such activities.

And here comes the sales pitch.... If your employer does not have legal personnal then I would be happy to discuss this matter with them. I have strong expertise in business compliane and could design a program that satisfies the employer and employees. Or, if someone has any kind of negative action related to this dictum then I would be happy to represent that person.

Regards,

Roger Traversa

email: [email protected]

Read more
Answered on 3/31/06, 9:47 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Business Law questions and answers in Pennsylvania