Work hours

by Karol
(Sedona)

Due to economic downturn the company cut several employees' working hours, however the company decided to hire a former employee and cut our hours even further in order to accommodate him. He left the job several years ago, tried different places, opened his own business which went belly up since. He is not more qualified than other employees, only thing he has it is his relationship with management. Is it fair to cut our wages (hours)just to make room for another person, is it bias, favoritism, unfair labor practice, violation labor law, or management can treat work place as their own playground. We have over 100 employees.

Response from Carl: Thanks Karol. Based on what you mention, it certainly sounds like favoritism but as far as whether or not it is anything more than that (ie. unfair labor practice, violation of labor laws, etc) is hard for me to say as I'm not a lawyer nor an expert on your local area.

Is it possible that the company had a good experience with him in the past and believes that bringing him back will allow them to get more work done and save them money at the same time? Perhaps they found him to be a high output employee last time when he worked for them and hope he'll do the same this time.

It seems odd that they'd cut other people's hours, etc due to the economy but then hire a guy just because he's friendly with them. Just a thought.

Carl