Dear Roze:

My assistant is a passive aggressive person.  We have a rocky relationship; we never see eye-to-eye on things.  So, I would like to get your opinion on something that she did.  I sent her an e-mail on a Friday morning, reminding her to keep me informed on certain things because she hadn’t done that on Thursday, the day before.  When she left for the weekend, she left my dying plant out in the atrium where there’s an extreme amount of sun and heat.  We’re having unseasonably warm weather right now, so that’s obviously not the right thing for the plant.  Quite a while back, she offered to get the plant back in shape, as she did with others’ plants.  She brought all those plants in and put them on her desk, but left mine out in the sizzling heat to basically die.  I couldn’t believe it and yet I could.  I know she wanted to get a reaction out of me.  She wanted to upset me.  I did what I thought was right, but I’d like to know what you think I should have done.

-Peeved with plant killer

Dear Peeved with plant killer:

Your assistant’s behavior was inconsiderate and disrespectful of you.  I imagine that there is quite a bit of history between you and her, which is causing such inappropriate behavior from her.  That being said, I would have suggested that this not be a battle you pick.  Instead, bring the plant in and place it in your office or take it home.  Either way, you should be taking care of the plant and not say a word to her about it.

I hope your plant is alive and well!

Dear Roze:

I recently found out that my employer has changed my job status from full time to part time without my knowledge.  I no longer receive full time benefits such as tuition assistance, holiday/vacation hours, and medical benefits.  I had no idea that they did this until I realized I no longer had health insurance at a recent doctor's visit. I asked my manager about it and they said the recent position I switched to at work was a part time position.  They didn't know about it until just now.  Nobody told me, warned me, or anything.  They just switched my job code and took away all of my benefits.  I absolutely told my manager that I wouldn't have taken the new position if I had known that it was only a part time position.  My general manager said that he was not aware of the position being only part time until just recently.  However, another manager told me he knew from the very beginning that it was only a part time position, but didn't want to tell me.  I don't know if that's true or not, but it bothers me a lot. 

My company has an HR number to call, but I haven't called HR yet because I don't know if I have a valid claim to make.  Is this even legal?   Please help me with any information.

Devastated with switch in TX

Dear Devastated with switch in TX:

Given the legal implications of your situation, I sought assistance from attorney Joseph C. Blanton, Jr., whose legal practice includes employment law.  He is with the Blanton, Rice, Sidwell, Nickell, Cozean & Collins, L.L.C., a law firm in Sikeston, Missouri. He provided the following response to your issue:

“I am not a TX lawyer but I am familiar with the principles of TX law that would likely apply to this situation.  I urge you to immediately talk to a TX lawyer as soon as possible.  Generally, TX is an “at will” employment state.  Under the “at will” doctrine, employers can fire employees for any reason or no reason with very limited exceptions.  Accordingly, they can also change the conditions of their employment.   There are some limited exceptions to the “at will” doctrine.  For example, employers cannot treat employees differently based upon race, sex, national origin, religion, etc., cannot punish an employee for filing a worker’s comp claim or serving on a jury, etc.   It does not sound like any of the exceptions would apply.   It is possible that your company’s employee handbook or some other document might be construed to create contract rights to full time employment or to the benefits that accompany full time employment, but I think that is unlikely.  I would carefully review all documents relating to the benefit plans to see if there are any rights in the employee handbook that are being violated.

You might also check with your HR to see if you have any rights to continuation coverage under the federal COBRA statutes.  However, any continuation coverage would be at your own expense and would not solve your problem.

The “at will” doctrine can have harsh results.  It is grounded in the philosophy that it is better for employers to be able to freely discharge employees or change the conditions of their employment.   If the employers’ abilities to make changes were more limited, they might be less likely to hire new employees in the first place.  I know this is little consolation for you.  You might want to look elsewhere for employment opportunities.”

I hope you will find this information from Mr. Blanton helpful.  Best of luck!

Dear Roze:

I graduated from college earlier this month and I’ve been mailing out resumes by the boatload since March, vs. emailing them. I figure I have a better chance of standing out when a person gets a hard copy of my resume.  I haven’t included a cover letter every time just because I’m not so keen on a lot of the places I’ve sent my resume to, but I figure the more I throw out there, the better chance of having more opportunities come my way.  When I told a couple of my buddies what I’ve been doing, they lit into me.  Do you think I should send a cover letter with every resume I send out?  A yes or no answer will do, thanks.

-Rockin’ resume

Dear Rockin’ resume:

Yes!