Can my boss make me do manual labor if my job description is as the Office Manager?

Question

I work for a landscaping company my friend owns. It’s a very small company (5 employees) and I was hired a few months ago to do light office work a few days a week.

Now that the spring season is picking up work he’s making me do work outside at clients homes. I’m applying pesticide, laying grass seed and doing root drenched to plants.

I am a girl who also works at a restaurant after this ‘office’ job. It was perfect before the spring but now my body is killing me after a 13 hour day of 2 physically demanding jobs.

Is there anything I can do to stop this madness?

Answer 1

tl;dr: You can ask, but you may need a new job.

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There are two aspects to view this under: legal, and practical.

Legal view

Your situation will depend on the specifics of your job. In particular:

• Does your contract say that you are hired for a certain type of work only?
• Is there an (implied) agreement that you will only do office-type work?
• Are there local laws or collective agreements limiting your employer's right to assign you a type of work different from what you were hired to do?

However, in most countries and jurisdictions I know of, your employer can assign you new types of work as required. You may have some rights if the work is very different (as in your case), but they are usually limited. In particular, your employer may be able to reduce your hours or let you go if they no longer have sufficient amount of the "old work" available.

Practical view

Unless you have very strong employee rights, this is probably not something you want to go to court over. On the other hand, your employer may be open to negotiating a compromise. So think about what would make your situation easier, and try to reach a compromise. Some ideas about things you could ask for:

• limit "heavy" work to days where you do not work at the restaurant
• limit "heavy" work to a certain number of hours per day
• get assistance from colleagues for particularly demanding work, such as heavy lifting
• get tools and training, so the work becomes easier
• allowing you some say in what work exactly you do, so you can avoid things that are particularly difficult for you
• allow more breaks (possibly paid) before, after or during "heavy" work

You may or may not be able to reach a compromise that way, but it's worth a try. If your boss values your work and wants to keep you, they may be open to a compromise. However, this approach may fail, if your boss is unwilling to negotiate. In that case, you may have to find a different job, so keep that in mind.

Answer 2

If this is truly a friend then I recommend talking to this friend and explain everything you have written in your question. See if a compromise can be reached such as:

If there is no need to do office work multiple days per week you should try limiting the amount of days which you come in so that you come in only when the office work needs to be done.

In small companies, people usually wear multiple hats to keep the company running so it's unfortunate that your friend is abusing you like this.

One thing that is certain, be ready to resign if they don't take your talk seriously.

Answer 3

One thing I would add here (from a US perspective)...

Another answer stated:

In small companies, people usually wear multiple hats to keep the company running so it's unfortunate that your friend is abusing you like this.

I would state it differently - in a small company like this, it's almost inevitable that the lines between different job roles will blur a bit, and everyone will end up helping with tasks that are nominally 'outside scope.' This has been the case when I've worked in start-up sized companies.

A good employer will state this up front, and there should be language in your contract to that effect as well. This would give you an opportunity to more clearly define what you are and are not willing to do, and to understand what they might expect you to do. It does not sound like you had this conversation when you were hired, which doesn't reflect well on the employer. Also, outdoor manual labor is rather different from 'light office work,' although it's not entirely surprising given that you're in a landscaping company.

To answer your actual question:

Is there anything I can do to stop this madness?

You can talk to your employer, since you stated they're a friend, and express your concerns. If that doesn't help you probably want to start looking for a new job. There might be legal solutions in the middle but that depends a lot on location/jurisdiction and likely isn't a route you want to pursue in light of the friendship.

I'm mostly adding this information so that you can have a better idea of what to expect if you start looking for new jobs. Small companies can be great opportunities and great communities, but they don't tend to have the rigidly defined personnel roles of larger organizations. This is something to consider when considering what future jobs to seek, and something to consider when talking with prospective employers.

Answer 4

This seems to be an interpersonal issue - not a legal issue.

As such, once you discuss this with your employer, I would recommend you take special attention at his/her reaction. If he dismisses your concerns and continues to give you tasks unrelated to your position, I'd strongly suggest you change jobs.

Often we may want to "put up" with abusive employers for the sake of convenience. However, this may lead to more abuse.

Most importantly: As an Office Manager, landscaping work will not be very useful work experience to present in future interviews. This is why you should ensure that your tasks are aligned with your job description.