About four months ago my company started allowing hourly teammates to work overtime for the first time in 2014. The President dictated three rules:
1. That no teammate could work more than 60 hours per week.
2. Teammates can work in other departments other than their home department.
3. Department Management must have an open line of communication to control the 60 hour limit.
Overtime was limited in my department so I reached out to another department to see if help was needed. The Area Manager in the Customer Service division informed me she need people every day. I informed my hourly teammate and asked them to sign up. All communications was done by e-mail that I made sure my Area Manager was copied on. I wanted to keep communication open. The following week I sent an e-mail to the Shift Manger in the Customer Service Department informing them of my employee desire to work and the amount of hours each could work to avoid them going over the 60 hour limit. All requests for overtime was accepted and scheduled.
The following Monday I received an e-mail from the Customer Service Shift Manager of the hour each teammate worked. The number of hours each teammate worked varied. One of my teammates came to me and asked me “what was the problem with me working in Customer Service last week”. I could not respond because I was not aware of a problem. That afternoon I received a copy of an e-mail that my Area Manager had sent to the Customer Service Area Manager stating that the teammate who had approached me that morning should not be allowed to work on Wednesday since she had worked twelve hours the previous day. She informed the Customer Service Area Manager to send her home if she came in. When the teammate came in she was told she would not be allowed to work. By the end of that day there were 6 e-mails exchanged between my Area Manager and the