8/10 weather

[BCClone]

I haven't heard of people being forced to use PTO or make up time for inclement weather, but I'm sure it happens. Every place I've worked has basically taken the position of "if the office is open, you need to be here or use time off." Any time there is a snow storm or weather that prevents most people from safely making it to the office, the office will close and we are told to stay home, with no PTO needed. Though most people just work remotely in those cases for a day.

Guess I was thinking of the hourly people. Like a Pella or Winnebago where nothing gets produced if there is no work. The ones I know usually give you the option of PTO or unpaid with no penalties. I was either commission, which was a big fat 0 in those instances or salary which meant I was working 50-70 hours weekly anyhow so it just moved my schedule around. I went self-employed in 2002 when working from home was still kinda difficult due to the poor internet speeds.

 

[Gorm]

My company issued an email saying NO PTO this week for hours lost. I wasn't expecting that at all and am very grateful. My office is based in Iowa City though, so almost ALL employees were impacted. Many still without power right now.

 

[discydisc]

Anyone know if the North Ankeny Blvd Hyvee has power?

 

[cb1030]

It was crazy to see how fast people jumped on resources here in the Des Moines metro. We had a huge tree come down and my chainsaw is too small to deal with it so I ran to fleetfarm shortly after the storm passed. I grabbed the second to last chainsaw in the store from a pallet that they had just rolled out from the back right before like ten other guys came looking for one.

It was also a little disheartening to see some guys roll through and grab four generators each. Looked like they were going to make some money flipping them to me, but who knows.

 

[JRE1975]

I totally understand that, however this situation seems to be a little bit different.. Lol I'm just salty about it I guess. My wife isn't even that mad about it. She said she'll get as close as she can to a full week and just take PTO for the rest.

Statefan, you sure your wife isn't just telling you this so she doesn't have to pile of wood in the back yard anymore?

 

[Sousaclone]

It was crazy to see how fast people jumped on resources here in the Des Moines metro. We had a huge tree come down and my chainsaw is too small to deal with it so I ran to fleetfarm shortly after the storm passed. I grabbed the second to last chainsaw in the store from a pallet that they had just rolled out from the back right before like ten other guys came looking for one.

It was also a little disheartening to see some guys roll through and grab four generators each. Looked like they were going to make some money flipping them to me, but who knows.

I'd like to believe that they bought them for friends/family/neighbors, etc. However the great Toilet Paper Crisis of March leads me to believe that people would be trying to resell them. Although selling stuff on Craigslist would be hard with no power or cell phone service...

 

[cycloner29]

How much gas do you go through in a day? I have a 8500 or 9500 watt generator and never ran it more than an hour here or there to plug in the combine or tractors for a bit at farms with no power. Have brought it home during winter but never knew how much it would burn in a day.

around 5-6 gallons a day.

 

[throwittoblythe]

Guess I was thinking of the hourly people. Like a Pella or Winnebago where nothing gets produced if there is no work. The ones I know usually give you the option of PTO or unpaid with no penalties. I was either commission, which was a big fat 0 in those instances or salary which meant I was working 50-70 hours weekly anyhow so it just moved my schedule around. I went self-employed in 2002 when working from home was still kinda difficult due to the poor internet speeds.

Good point. I was thinking of salary, not hourly people.

 

[BCClone]

around 5-6 gallons a day.

Not bad really. Can you run your whole house off half the generator? I can if I trip all the breakers and bring them on one at a time every 30 seconds or so. Just so I don't have that hard surge at once.

 

[FOREVERTRUE]

The company I work for changed about 5 years ago. Before they would have snow days if the roads were really bad and would be no penalty to the employees for missing. Now they will not close and if you can't make it in it is on you because "we didn't tell you where to live".

 

[Isualum13]

Anyone know if the North Ankeny Blvd Hyvee has power?

Their facebook page says they had a generator brought in and they are open.

 

[laminak]

There was no power in Marion when I left for work this morning, basically since Monday afternoon. We got a couple hours on last night, however lost it right away due to several transformers/house fire near Linn-Mar. Cell service is still not good.

Otherwise we didn't get too much damage--just lost our mailbox, a tree, and arbor, and had a bunch of debris to clean up.

 

[CycloneErik]

Guess I was thinking of the hourly people. Like a Pella or Winnebago where nothing gets produced if there is no work. The ones I know usually give you the option of PTO or unpaid with no penalties. I was either commission, which was a big fat 0 in those instances or salary which meant I was working 50-70 hours weekly anyhow so it just moved my schedule around. I went self-employed in 2002 when working from home was still kinda difficult due to the poor internet speeds.

I believe my wife's employer did this, too. When they closed down for a day due to the outage, she had to use PTO. They could have eaten a day, but passed it off on her.

 

[Statefan10]

Statefan, you sure your wife isn't just telling you this so she doesn't have to pile of wood in the back yard anymore?

Fortunately for us, we only had minor damages to our apartment. Everyone around us though got pretty roughed up.

 

[isu_oak]

tree service companies seem to be sketchy... why $8500 for a tree laying across the street? Their answer probably is: there is so much demand.

reality is they can charge it knowing insurance will cover their cost.

My insurance told me only limbs on "covered structures" will be eligible for an insurance claim. I was also hoping for the food in the fridge and freezers to be covered, but I guess that's out too...

 

[MeowingCows]

So get this.. My wife's work lost power around 1 pm on Monday. Her employer told them that they were going to have to make up those few hours they missed. That was before people walked outside, saw the destruction, and realized the entire city was out of power.

Their building just got power this morning. Employer sent out a message to everyone saying they were required to come back in but they were also required to work their full hours for the week and any missed time would be charged to PTO. That's 2.5 days of work their entire building missed due to the whole city not having power because we got hit by a Midwestern style hurricane. WTF?

She usually has the ability to get work done outside the office remotely, but even that's impossible because we still don't have power.

That's f***ed up. The entire business is unable to operate due to something out of the employees' control, but they're effectively being punished for it anyway.

 

[MeowingCows]

Anyone know if the North Ankeny Blvd Hyvee has power?

I just drove by there a bit ago and it appears to be active right now. The stoplights and such up there are running now as well.

 

[cowgirl836]

That's f***ed up. The entire business is unable to operate due to something out of the employees' control, but they're effectively being punished for it anyway.

This is America. Employee rights are ittttttttttty bitty.

 

[IcSyU]

What huge hit?

COVID. Projects being delayed or canceled where they would have been able to clear land. Cities slashing spending because of COVID so tree trimming and stuff of that sort isn't being done. Many homeowners have tightened their budgets and passed on doing a landscaping project the tree service would have sold mulch for.

It isn't right but I get where they're coming from. If they think insurance will just write out a check for whatever amount they want to charge they're nuts though. Insurance isn't going to spend more than a market rate. The company is going to take a check from a homeowner and cash it, the homeowner is going to turn it in for reimbursement, the insurance company is going to look and write a check to the homeowner for FMV of removal, and the homeowner is going to have no recourse.

 

[isutrevman]

That's f***ed up. The entire business is unable to operate due to something out of the employees' control, but they're effectively being punished for it anyway.

The entire business is unable to operate due to something that is also out of the employer's control. They are also being punished for it since the business is not bringing in any money that day, and they still have expenses. I think the punishment is spread out pretty well. Employee still gets paid, but has to use PTO. Employee loses some money, but not an entire day's worth.

This is coming from someone who has had to use PTO for snow days. My past employer always gave us the option to make up the hours the rest of the week, or over the weekend, or use PTO for whatever we don't make up. I though that was a reasonable compromise.