I’m a working student currently in High School and I work part time at a restaurant during Friday and weekends and I don’t want to work on Sundays anymore but my employer is forcing me to work on Sundays can my employer do that?

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I’m a working student currently in High School and I work part time at a restaurant during Friday and weekends and I don’t want to work on Sundays anymore but my employer is forcing me to work on Sundays can my employer do that?

I’m a working student in High School and I work on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
and I don’t want to work on Sundays anymore but my employer won’t let me have an
off on Sundays can he/she do that?

Asked on February 27, 2016 under Employment Labor Law, Texas

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 8 years ago | Contributor

Of course your employer can force you to work Sundays--your employer has full discretion to set work days & hours, and may do so purely for its own benefit, without any regard to what is convenient for its workers. Not to overstate the case, but there's a reason why your boss is called your "boss" and not your "partner"--he/she is in charge.
There are two exceptions:
1) You have a written employment contract specifying your days; the employer needs to follow the contract.
2) You request to not work Sundays as a "reasonable accommodation" to your religion. This means:
a) you have to be part of a religion that doesn't let you work either Sunday at all or at least during those hours (e.g. those hours are when church is);
b) you are credible that your request is a legitimate one, and not a ploy to get out of working Sundays;
c) you have to be able  to do the job without working Sunday--which may not be possible if your position is specifically to work weekends, since you'd now be only able to work around 40% or so of the Friday night to Sunday shifts; employers do not need to retain people who can't do their jobs, and do NOT need to allow you to work shorter hours than they need; 
d) and if you can do the job withot working Sunday, you'd have to make up the time during days/ hours determined by the employer--its choice, not yours. So maybe they could let you miss Sunday, but then have to work Wed. and Thursdays evenings to make up the time.


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