Current Events > I'm torn between work, it's non-essential for an essential corporation. TLDR.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I work in a customer facing environment for sales, the company provides infrastructure, assists first responders, and general support for consumers. We have the option to stay home without pay.

I am torn between voluntarily staying home and going unpaid, while others are excused with pay for similar circumstances as mine with slight differences. The issue is that my family will suffer because they are fighting closure, even though many similar locations are shutdown, but our management team continues to excuse it.

The bottom line is that my kids daycare stayed open while other colleagues closed, but it's costing me extra ($211/week) to continue working, which unfortunately my company doesn't recognize as a reason to stay home with them with PTO. I make more than the offset cost, so I've continued working, but I work in a location that is getting an influx of elderly for very petty concerns but the company stays open under the umbrella of being essential on a larger scale that is unrelated to our specific location. I don't fall under the portion that is essential, but our middle-management team has fought for our location to stay open under pressure to close. They have bonuses to hit, but they of course use the "essential" phrasing to consider everyone under the company to stay open, even against shut-downs.

I personally am not concerned for myself in regards to my health, but rather my family, and those around me being impacted. One of my colleagues has lung disease but is afraid she'll get PTO for the limited time offered and then have to get further testing for return-to-work after it expires (which she indicates she will have trouble affording to verify the claim in the first place), so she feels pressured to continue putting herself at risk and won't file the claim to be off. She's also a few years under the at-risk age so the only way she'd get that time off paid is by going through further health expenses. Essentially, she has had testing, but she's put it off for extended periods of time so now she'd need current proof to get the PTO or return-to-work later.

My wife is pregnant, I have two toddlers, and I work in an area that has a high percentage of the elderly. Our regional management team can shutdown our store and I've found out they were going to, but the local managers convinced them to keep us open to help "essential" customers, which has been very few (I can't put a number, but if I had to guess by my interactions and observations, I wouldn't argue against 1 out of 100 people are first responders such as doctors...who can get assistance online or by phone but due to convenience, lack of effort, or knowledge, choose visiting a desk to have face-to-face assistance). Due to the traffic of non-essential customers, it looks like we have solid business and are making good money for the company. Thus, easy for local management to excuse it as essential.

Ultimately, the few essential people we're helping, the company is not going out of their way to protect against the many who aren't and those many are elderly that willfully don't follow guidelines and policies set in place. The company has also not set any exceptions to restrict to only the essential people being able to be provided service, which we very well could but nobody will call it when there's money to be made from others too. I've had elderly brush it off as a joke and walk right up into my face, but if I respond negatively or physically, I'd get disciplined. I even had a manager have a sit-down because I told an elderly person that was not listening in regards to distance and my personal space that I told, "I can direct you with these resources but there is no reason you need to sit-down next to me and go over these things" as they tried to continue and got offended, I escalated a bit to, "I am unable to further help you."

I'm also in a position to be thrown under the bus by lower management if I convince upper management to close the store and they lose their bonuses. They're also in a position to affect my position and growth with the company going forward and I know from prior experience they will absolutely do everything in their power to prevent me from moving up.

I personally am making good money right now, but I have family to worry about, along with everyday feeling anxiety knowing many of the people I'm interacting with will be affected by our location staying open just so management can justify it for a handful of people that are unwilling to take the slightly inconvenient route of getting support online or by phone.

Also, due to privacy concerns I can't reveal the company but the bottom line is that I do view the company as essential from the top, and I am helping some people that do benefit. It's just that the larger community that isn't following directives or protecting themselves out of sheer unwillingness and ignorance has to have a stand put in place or they will harm myself or others I'm trying to take into consideration or even care about.

The other side is money. If our location closes down, the company has already stated we'll get full pay plus a flat-rate bonus, so obviously I'd rather just be safe at home with my family than continue working with aholes. We wouldn't get additional bonuses, which could be hundreds, but I personally don't care about that few hundred or maybe thousand dollars if it means I know lives are being put in danger.

Yet the opposite is a huge detriment to my livelihood: if I go without pay entirely, I'm put in a serious situation...not right now, but in a month or two. Forgoing $3-5k is no joke. Then if a shutdown continues longer, they will fight tooth and nail to make sure I don't get any further pay because I voluntarily took the time off and didn't fall under their circumstances to be PTO. Not to mention my management team will certainly restrict me from further promotion within the company after this is over. So to help in the short-term, I suffer in the long-term. All for mostly other people who aren't even considerate enough to take care of themselves and disrespect me when put in position to even follow guidelines. Outside of me getting it and my family, of course.

What the hell do I do? I am considering emailing the higher-up management team that was going to shut us down, but I can't make it look like I'm complaining about management directly or just want the time off (I DON'T, I make good money and like working for those extra bonuses), but rather an inquiry about the situation. That's about my only course of action outside of taking the unpaid time-off "without repercussion." I have already witnessed my direct supervisor suggest someone that criticizes the upper-management decisions should immediately be fired during a crisis like this. Of course it's hyperbol

Honestly I'd post something like this on Reddit.

Maybe r/legaladvice? If not, I'm sure others can suggest more appropriate subreddits

Sorry I couldn't be of more help :(
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