Can my spouse be forced to relocate to another work place?
Facts: 1) spouse works for ATT 2) spouse is in IBEW (Union) 3) ATT wants to force spouse to report from another job location which is two hours from spouse's home 4) Spouse would have to travel two hours each way each day to new reporting site, but maintain same working hours on the job 5) Management has not gone by "seniority system," i.e., spouse has more years than co-workers who do the same job and are receiving the same pay, but instead of management starting with these less senior employees, they have "cherry picked" my spouse and others with seniority, claiming less senior employees don't have the skills to do the job. 6) spouse and others being "forced" are in late 50s 7) spouse has told management "no" and management is holding the line DOES SPOUSE HAVE LEGAL RECOURSE? HAS SPOUSE OVERLOOKED AVENUES OF REDRESS? UNION HAS (IT WOULD APPEAR) GIVEN UP ON THIS. NEED ADVICE AND WILL PROVIDE ADD'L INFO IF I CAN.
MarianariaBibliotecaria2008-01-16T12:14:31Z
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An employer has the right to assign an employee to a different workplace. Your email suggests that the employer may have not followed the procedures agreed upon between the employer and the union, and/or the employer is discriminating based on age in choosing whom to reassign to another workplace.
Your first recourse is the union. You should seek an explanation of the term(s) of the contract you feel the employer violated, and an explanation of what, if anything, the union will do for you. If you are dissatisfied with the union's response, you could consult an attorney in the labor relations field. You should start with having the attorney review the union contract and any other documents, to see if there is, in fact, any basis for saying the employer (or union) failed to follow the contratct. Then you could get an opinion on a possible age-discrimination suit, possibly as a class-action suit.
Since your spouse is in a union then you need to read the union's contract with ATT very carefully. It will likely spell out whether he has to do this or not... if the contract allows this then he can either do it or quit. In most cases a contract will not give specific details as to where work is to be peformed (since any company could move), and if this is the case I suspect the spouse can either do it or quit. In general people don't like to move but if your job moves you may have to bite the bullet.
I worked for AT&T for 6 years. They do this kind of stuff all the time. Especially since SBC bought AT&T there is going to be a lot of consolidation and relocating. Legally there is no recourse that I know of. The union is the only hope but they are useless most of the time. I wish I had better news for you.
If Union isn't helping, then, yes, spouse must relocate or resign and find a different employer. The law doesn't protect employees from being relocated.