rather odd question...

WolfSong2000

This is a little bit of a weird question, but it got me thinking, and I don't know the answer, so figured I'd see if any of you guys do...

To cut a very long story short, I have 2 summer jobs in Washington DC (am actually British and will be returning to UK in next month or two)...not sure if it made the news in the UK, but there was an earthquake today in Virginia, which also affected DC. It was a fairly big earthquake...anyhow, I was working alone at one of the jobs (small store, boss had taken day off). I called my boss after the event and said as there's a risk of aftershocks and problems with the metro system (which I needed to use to get home), could I close the store a little early...I got a no, which was fine, and I stayed.

Anyhow, my question is, can an employer force an employee to stay in what is potentially a dangerous situation...I know a lot of buildings were evacuated and people were sent home and I had customers calling me all day to make sure I was still open, but I don't know if I would have any right to say "that's it, I'm leaving" in a situation like this.

As it happens I had little problem with staying...was a little worried about getting home, but in the end there were only slight delays.

Just wondering what people's thoughts were...hopeully my question makes sense...am really tired today (late night last night writing up my master's dissertation which is due in later this week - for the record, holding down two jobs and trying to write a dissertation is *not* a good idea!).

sharpy2010

Don't know about the legal issue, but in that situation I'd have probably made an executive decision and thought bu66er this, and gone home.

tizerbelle

You'd be better off finding an american forum as the legal position is very different in the US to the UK.

Presumably you also live in DC? Why would you be any less at risk if you went home and would you really want to be stuck on the metro if there was an aftershock?

Doing the "executive" decision in the US is likely to result in your employment coming to an end. The little I do know about US employment law is that most employee/employer relationships are deemed to be "at-will employment" which means either party can end the employment at any time for any reason (whether good cause, bad cause or no cause at all)

Mistral001

Yes agree you have to do what the americans do. They are no longer a colony and have their own legal system I believe!

SarEl

Mistral001 wrote: »

Yes agree you have to do what the americans do. They are no longer a colony and have their own legal system I believe!

It entirely depends, in many circumstances, on your definition of "legal" - they can interpret it rather widely!

WolfSong2000

thanks for the replies, guys...I was just curious. I'm only working in the USA for the summer (J-1 visa), but was just curious as to what the legal situation was. As it stood, there was no way I was going to leave work as I work with dogs, and there were still some dogs on the premises waiting to be collected by their owners, and I wasn't about to abandon them. lol.

Thanks for the insight

cafe-bisou

Employers in the US can fire you for whatever reason, at any time they like. Employees can also quit without a notice period. So yes, I suspect you could have gone home but you probably wouldn't have a job to return to!