I work at a large chain of stores, for this duscussion lets call it Sears…I work in the store, carrying out merchandise for customers and moving stock . Its now getting to be summer and in Illinois summers can get hot and very very humid, but my employer doesn’t have a working air conditioner. They expect me to pick up dishwashers, lawnmowers, etc etc while its that hot in the store. I feel that there has to be some sort of law against working your employees to death in scortching heat. Does anyone know of these laws or where I might be able to obtain a copy and who I could go to in there are in fact in violation of labor laws.
The Illinois Department of Labor can be found somewhere at http://www.state.il.us/ but the site seems to be down at the moment.
You will find that there are very few rules governing adult employment. Most of them are in wages.
You will find that there are very few rules governing adult employment. Most of them are in wages.
I just checked and that site is still down, unfortunately. And here I am in CA, where things may be different…
Is there a union? A contract? I can only speak as a negotiator for a part time faculty union contract (still not settled), but we have a section on working conditions, though the district is balking. Heating, cooling, lighting, leaks, etc. are part of the deal.
Any updates?no union, I just work there part time, I’m a student full time and I’m hoping to pick up more hours in the summer. Thanks for the effort though. Sears is just really ghetto I guess.
Don’t give up. The Occupational Health and Saftey administration for the state of Illionois might be able to give you a sense of what is legal and what is not. If you give them a call the may do an inspection. But I beg you don’t give up on this one till you get an answer. People depend on someone like yourself to take a stand. You don’t have to be Norma Rae but follow up. Sears usta be a great company to work for.Now it is run like every other retail chain- Lousy treatment, no loyalty and the executives make way too much money.
Good Luck
Tony:
I know what you’re talking about. Let’s say, for example, I used to slave away for a farm store. I would advise you to contact OSHA and bust those cheapskates.
GP.
Isnt it hot outside too? They are not forcing you to work there right? You have the option to seek employment elsewhere correct? Call me an asshole, but you should maybe look for a new job if you think you are gonna die. I’d say something like “kids today”, but I’m not exactly old enough to say that.
dead0man
You’re working without air-conditioning? Heavens forbid!
I’d have no problem with the no a/c but when they have a dress code where associates on the floor have to wear dress clothes and ties and what not that seems kinda cruel, plus the fact that many customers have complained at the level of heat in the store. Not to mention some of our workers are older and its not good for 50+ year olds to be exposed to heat like that.
Tony
Before I became an engineer I had the pleasure of working many crap jobs to help fund my college education. Selling vacuum cleaners door to door in the summer, in dress pants and a tie, is just as bad if not worse than your situation. So is working in a pizza shop. Even with air conditioning the ovens are a wee bit on the warm side.
Then of course I graduated. While I do spend most of my days in an air conditioned cubicle (yes, Dilbert is a reality), there are occasions when I’ve been in power plants, steel mills, chemical plants, etc. and all of these are much worse conditions than your retail store. The ones that most stand out: (1) A chemical plant in louisiana in the summer, when the temperatures outside were about 95 deg. on average (2) The upper levels of the boiler in a coal fired power plant, and I don’t care what time of year it is it’s freaking hot up there (3) A steel mill, in July (in case you are wondering, when you are on a catwalk 3 stories up from molten steel, despite the fact that you are such a distance away from it, it still feels like someone is blasting you in the face with a hair dryer set on high).
Based on my experience, your complaint seems really, really silly. People routinely endure conditions much worse than you are going through and do it without complaint. I’d say you have a good future in acting (or overacting, as the case may be) or possibly as a lawyer. Good luck.
I worked in a chemical factory that was routinely 100 degrees F. I spent about 20 min in this one area surrounded by very hot pipes that was so hot that when I walked back out into the 100 degree floor it felt cold – I even got a shiver!
Places like that can’t be air conditioned. They’d all go out of business and you couldn’t buy plastic anymore.
I’m sorry if my last post sounded dismissive. As I’m sure you’ve gathered, several respondents, including myself, have worked in harsh physical environments.
Have you made a case for A/C to management? Your statement:
makes me think there’s a case to be made. Visit your competitors’ and count traffic and apparent sales. Build a case.
Good luck, pal
Well if you work in a factory or a power plant you’d expect it, I also work at Kraft too, upstairs where they bake the pasta is often very very hot, I dont complain about the heat there. I know its gonna be hot and I accept that its gonna be hot given the circumstances, but when the store has an A/C and doesn’t fix it or even care b/c the store manager loves the heat, what can you do?
It’s the manager’s call as to whether he gets the a/c fixed. After all, he is the manager. The manager gets the credit for things that help the store, and gets the blame for things that hurt the store (like driving away customers because it’s too darn hot inside). You can armchair quarterback all you want, but the company has decided it wants him to run the store, not you. In any major retail store, the only thing that really matters is the profit and loss sheet. If the customers he drives away equal less money than the cost of running the a/c, then he’s done a good thing for the company.
You are a grunt. You don’t get to see the P&L sheet nor do you get to do much that could affect it. “What can you do” is basically you get to sit around on your break and bitch about it. TACTFULLY approaching the manager and suggesting that he turn on the a/c so it won’t drive away customers might also be a good idea, but remember that you can only make suggestions, and he has every right to ignore anything you suggest.
If you want to be in a position where you can make decisions that matter, like whether or not to turn on the a/c, then work your way up into a management position somewhere.
Unions and WCB love chewing up and spitting out people with the attitude of “the lowely grunts will do whatever I say whenever I say it”. Remember too that something that looks bad for a manager is to have a constant stream of complaints coming to the head office from his employees, and then having them quit one after another resulting in a high staff-turnover. The boss is not an untoucable god by any means… I mean come on, how much power do ya think the manager at the local hardware store has even in the community?? I don’t agree with the idea that one should sit around and take a lot of BS that you know is wrong with the goal of *working your way up to dish the same crap out *years later… that’s just plain pathetic. Do however be very sure you’re in the right, don’t step too far beyond your bounds, and remember that even if the local conditions are unfair, there are usually people more desparate than you who WILL put up with it, so you may get nowhere.