You get more mileage from some firms
Q: I am sometimes required for my job to use my personal vehicle to drive inventory from my location to another location, approximately 12 miles round trip. My company will not pay gas mileage for this trip, saying that they will pay only if it is over 30 miles. Now I do this trip an average of twice a week. Occasionally I will make this trip three times in a week. I was wondering if there is a law that covers when companies are required to pay mileage.
A: Employers are not required by law to reimburse employees for mileage. Therefore, there are no laws that cover if, when, and how much a company should reimburse its employees who use their own cars for work-related travel. It is entirely up to each employer's discretion to determine its own reimbursement policy.
Companies vary widely in how they reimburse employees for travel by car: Some provide a company car for an employee's exclusive use; others, including many government offices, have a shared pool of company vehicles with a definite protocol for who uses these cars, and when. Some companies provide a monthly allowance for employees who use their own cars for work, and others set their own guidelines for reimbursing mileage.
I suggest you schedule a meeting to discuss this situation with your boss. Explain that your trips are conducted regularly and that your out-of-pocket expenses are escalating. I hope that you have been keeping accurate records of your mileage, which you can share with your boss. (And you may, at least, be eligible for a tax deduction in lieu of reimbursement.)
Your employer's policy of only covering distances greater than 30 miles seems somewhat arbitrary. This policy assumes employees can afford to absorb the cost of occasional short business-related trips as needed, and was established long before gasoline cost $4 a gallon. In addition, the mileage limit presumably was set to help minimize bookkeeping costs. Otherwise, the cost of processing a small reimbursement request could exceed the amount of the reimbursement itself.
I am optimistic that you and your boss will be able work something out. You and he or she might be able to compromise - perhaps with your boss covering half the mileage or agreeing to cover your mileage above a certain amount total for the month. I would hate to think that a stalemate over an issue such as mileage would force you to leave a job that you like otherwise.
A: You are a bit between the proverbial rock and a hard place. The key for you is to redirect the interviewer's focus from your employment gap to the work experience that you do have, and to stress how well your experience and qualifications match the requirements of the job you're interviewing for.
The importance of a resume gap diminishes the more work experience that you have before, and, even more important, after the gap. Your youth is a disadvantage (I never thought I'd say those words) both in your lack of work experience before the gap and, according to you, in your youthful and healthy appearance. In some fields, gap of a year or less are not uncommon; in other fields, the interviewer is used to seeing an uninterrupted work history. It partially depends on what kind of job you're looking for.
I have a hunch you have allowed your gap in your employment history to become your Achilles heel, because you haven't yet found an answer that you're comfortable giving when the interviewer asks, "What have you been doing this past year?" If you have been given clearance from your medical team that you are able to resume working full time, you need to be able to put the gap behind you - and help the interviewer do the same.
In lieu of lying on your resume or discussing your health issue in great detail (it's illegal for the interviewer to ask more than you disclose about your medical condition), you could try telling a somewhat sanitized version of the truth. I find that this is usually the best overall strategy. Tell the interviewer that you had to take some time off due to a medical problem that has now been completely resolved, and that you have been cleared to work full time. Remember, what an interviewer really wants to learn is: Can this individual do the job? How will he or she fit into the organization? How long will he or she stay?
Practice what you will say before you interview, to make sure that you can reframe your employment gap with brevity, clarity, and confidence. The key is to sound sincere, not defensive. Make sure that you are not inadvertently conveying the impression that you are hiding something or that there was anything unseemly, illegal, or scandalous about your taking time off. The more comfortable you are with your explanation, the less likely that the interviewer will feel that your employment gap is an insurmountable barrier to hiring you.
It may be helpful to schedule a session with a career coach to further review your answers. You may even want to consider scheduling a mock interview, perhaps through your college or university career office, to help you feel more comfortable as you interview. In addition, is there anything else that you were doing during your employment gap, such as retraining and/or consulting, that you could talk about? Schooling and contract work both fall into the category of "acceptable" explanations of a break in employment, especially for someone beginning a career. Neither of these would account for all of the time that you were not working, but they could help you "gloss over" your employment gap satisfactorily.
Another strategy that I suggest to individuals who want to overcome a gap in employment is to seek a temporary or temporary-to-permanent position. You would have a chance to "ease" back into working; your employer would be evaluating you on the basis of your performance rather than on your spotty work history to date; and you and your employer would have more time than half an hour to determine if the job is a good fit for you.
A: In at-will employment arrangement, which most employees are in Massachusetts, an employer gets to set the terms and conditions of employment. This includes the right to set working hours, wages, and job duties.
In a time of budget constraints, many businesses are manipulating work schedules to reduce overtime spending. There is nothing illegal about it. Federal and state law require only that employers pay time-and-a-half for any hours worked over 40 hours in a given work week. Overtime eligibility is based on the total hours worked in a week, rather than hours worked in a day.
In Massachusetts, employers are not obligated to pay an employee who works more than eight hours a day overtime. Unless you are covered by an employment contract or collective bargaining agreement that states otherwise, you may be required to work more than eight hours a day without receiving overtime pay.
An employer may choose to give comp time instead of additional compensation for the hours worked in excess of their usual work week, if the time is used in the same work week it is earned. Paying a worker in comp time that is not used in the same work week is not permitted under federal law, says Dan Field, a lawyer with Morgan, Brown & Joy LLP. The comp time would be allocated hour-for-hour. Comp time does not need to be paid at time and a half rate if the employee does not work more than 40 hours during the week in which the time is both earned and taken. However, private-sector employers may not substitute comp time for overtime.
Employers do have the right to change schedules to control overtime, even at the last minute. However, if you do show up for a regular shift, expecting to work that full shift, state law requires your employer to pay you for at least three hours - even you don't work at all
The laws governing overtime requirements and eligibility are complex. For example, employers are not required to pay overtime to some of white-collar workers, including managers, professionals, and administrative workers; as well as to some types of drivers, teachers, outside sales people, and computer workers - all of whom receive a guaranteed salary regardless of the number of hours worked.
Roni F. Noland is a career counselor/coach with 20+ years of experience. She can be reached at rfnoland@comcast.net. 