I have been fired today.....

[Mskanga]

First a little background on this.
I have been working for the same company almost 8 years, weekends only because of the children and not wanting to pay for daycare.
My hours were from 5:30 am to 3:45 pm ( long day I know ) and I have never EVER not gone in unless I was sick ( and even then I called out ). I worked every single holiday.
Fast forward to three months ago , I put down my name to have mother's day off. Well, my manager ( who has never liked me anyway ) decided to schedule me on that day anyway. So, after I had told her again that I requested the day off seven weeks prior , she told me I needed to cover my shift. HELLO?? you scheduled me fully knowing I wouldn't be there!!
Funny thing is one other co-worker did the same thing I did, we both requested the day off at the same time and she was also told to do the same thing. So last sunday neither one of us went to work. Today I went in to work as scheduled ( as of last night I was still on ) , and I was informed by the manager that I have been terminated for not showing up last sunday!! But get this....my co-worker, the one who also requested the day off , who also didn't show up ( according to her ) , has not been terminated.
Why one and not the other?? I don't know , but we laughed, she said she was jealous of me, she wanted to get terminated too, LOL.
I know this is a blessing in disguise, and I wasn't going to work there past the summer , so in a way I'm happy.
It just ticks me off that she waited to tell me until I went in today, why couldn't she tell me when I got my paycheck yesterday??
Oh well, they loose more than me.

 

[Chattyaholic]

I don't know about your state, but I was told (by a lawyer) that here in Michigan it's against the law to fire someone without first telling them what they're doing wrong and giving them a reasonable amount of time to correct it. I was fired once too and it was very unpleasant, but I decided not to fight it as I did not want to work for the jerk any longer. I decided to try something totally different, so went from being a secretary to a waitress!! You know what? I've been at this same job almost 7 years and still love it!! The pay is fantastic and the hours are so flexible. If I don't want to work there is always another waitress willing to take a shift, or if we're going on vacation I just let the boss know a month ahead of time and she won't put me on the schedule. I took the whole month of January off, no problem. And we'll take 2-3 weeks in the summer too, no problem. I LOVE it!! I'm sure you'll find something better too!!

 

[ChefBilly]

You absolutely have grounds for challenging the termination. The manager MUST treat you and the other employee equally.
You've got them.

 

[newmousecateer]

In Illinois you must first give a "verbal" warning and document it. Second offense, a written warning signed by both the employee and the manager. Third offense they can fire you.

Whatever you decide to do though, good luck to you and sorry it happened.

 

[Mskanga]

ChefBilly, I know I have the grounds and actually I have placed a phone call into the area supervisor's cell phone, all I want is to make sure he is aware of her doings and also make sure he's the one who decided to do this.
Either way it goes , I will not go back there unless the manager and her family are gone ( yes we have husband , wife and daughter working there ). But just to give them a headache , I'm filing a complaint with the department of labor.
No there was never another "not show up day" so there was never a first one to begin with. I do not consider this one a no show up, I told them 7 weeks in advance I would not be available. I do not get paid for time off and I was always told when I needed time off , as long as I gave enough advance notice, it wouldn't be a problem. Is 7 weeks long enough?? She also ripped out the entire page for the month of May in the calendar where this was written.
Oh well, life goes on and there are plenty of places I can go for a job.

 

[rae519]

How awful!
I know Indiana is an "employ at will" state and you can be fired without notice and without a reason. No wonder it has such a "brain drain" - who wants to have a position that is held at a whim.

I know that God doesn't close a door without opening a window - so hang in there!

Rae

 

[kimmar067]

...somewhere down the road, you'll see that, indeed, it WAS a blessing in disguise!!

(sending pixie dust your way *~**~**~**~**~* - hey, ya gotta have a job to save up money to go to WDW !)

 

[ByTheSea]

so sorry, it does sound like you got the raw end of the deal.

Unfortunately (?) most states in the U.S. are "at will" employment states. Unless you have an employment contact of some sort (Union contracts and even some employment handbooks with specific disciplinary policies would be considered as contracts in most cases) most employment arrangements are "at-will" - from the Employers perspective this means you can be terminated for no-cause, as long as it is not based on some discriminating factor, with or without any notice. From the employee's perspective it means the same thing, you can quit for no reason, with or without notice, you are not obligated to stay in a position you no longer want.

Not sure of your State, but if you have an employee handbook you might want to review it to see if there are defined disciplinary steps that were skipped, but look for the fine print stating something like "XXX is an "at-will" employer and reserves the right to terminate your employment with or without notice" or something like that.

 

[cindala]

Sounds like some kind of discrimination going on there. Did you document the events that led up to this? It might be worth a call to a lawyer, however, maybe it is just time to move on.

At the very least, make sure that you are entitled to Unemployment and that they don't $%$# you out of that!!!

 

[Mskanga]

I'm a firm believer that things happen for a reason , and I know that this is a blessing in disguise. I know something better will come up and hopefully something where I will be more appreciated. I'm not the first person to leave this job because of these people, we had other valuable employees actually quit because of them, I waited to get fired!
Nothing can be worse than getting laid off a week before we closed on the house , if I got through that 8 years ago, I can get through this without a problem. Thanks all for your support and kind words.

 

[rae519]

Your attitude will always get you better and more positive results - just hang in there. You know better times are coming.

Rae

 

[Mskanga]

Actually I know I am entitled to unemployment....so I may take the summer off with pay after all.
I have nothing to loose but I will give them a few headaches by filing complaints. I do have the employee handbook somewhere here, I just have to find it.

 

[jamsmom]

Yes, get unempoyment. It will make their unemployment tax go up a little bit, but at least it still goes up.

Before the company closed, we got rei of someone and even had several written communications via out internal communication system. But, since they were not printed off and signed by her, she still received unemployment.

 

[Mskanga]

This is getting better and better, the other co-worker who was not terminated for the same reason , was told that she had been written up ( yet she has not seen a pink slip or signed anything ) but she also asked to be removed from schedule for the next six weeks , and they did agree , but she's still working this weekend!! So, I give them 7 weeks notice to take one day off , they have a problem and they terminate me. My co-worker gives them the same exact notice , does not see a pink slip , does not get terminated as I did , and to top it off she asks for 6 weeks off one week in advance and it's ok.
Does that make any sense?
I know one thing....this manager had it in for me!

 

[one_cat]

He was definitely waiting for an excuse. MN is also an at-will work state. Our Team Member handbook lists a process that the company will follow before firing but the letter I received when I accepted the position stated that they can fire me at any time (in nice legaleze.) since I lived in a work at will state. It's like always being a contractor. The nice thing about working in a work-at-will state is that non-compete agreements are not enforceable. If they can fire you at any time and you can quit at any time, you can also work anywhere or for anyone you want.

 

[Mskanga]

No , there's definetely nothing on the handbook that says this is an At Will work state, I'm not sure if it may be, but there's nothing that mentions that on the handbook.

 

[Boots]

{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}

 

[4greatboys]

Olga sorry and congrats at the same time. Its hard to be fired but like you I think its for something better coming along. I had ajob once that I was fired from. I had been there about 4 years. It was a nice place to work in the beginning but went downhill fast. I was very unhappy there but I guess to "comfortable" there to go out looking for anything else. When I was fired it hurt my feelings at first--that didnt last long. Then I was very happy. I knew it was really a very good thing that had happened. I know something good is in the works for you. Enjoy your time off!

 

[Mskanga]

Deena , actually the area supervisor just called me, terminating me was not what they had discussed during the week, they discussed about talking to me about it , but he also did not know that she gives every saturday off to a new hire because she needs a life ( a 17 year old kid who wants to go out and have fun ) and also gives her dd the day off when she needs it without a problem.
Needless to say he is not happy with the things he found out , specially terminating one person but not the other for the same reason.
I would love to be a fly when he talks to her!!

 

[ByTheSea]

The nice thing about working in a work-at-will state is that non-compete agreements are not enforceable.

Actually this is not exactly true. In MN , which is very much an "employment at will" state, Non-compete agreements are enforceable but they have to be specific and the term cannot be excessive. A standard 12 month non-compete is completely enforceable but many employers, if they do the terminating, will waive the non-competes, but they do have the right to enforce them, and they will in certain cases... depends on the Employer and the situation. I'm a bit rusty on MN Employment law, but as of a few years ago, it was generally accepted that 18 months or less, with a non-compete that was fairly specific (and in some cases regionally specific would be required) was fine. A non-compete can't be so broad as to prevent a person from being able to make a living... but it can prevent say an engineer who was working in some specific area, to go work for a direct competitor of the former Employer even if the engineer was terminated.

Not to detract from this thread but just wanted to clarify the situation, I used to be a licensed Employment Law "Qualified Neutral" in MN, conducting medications etc., but I haven't done that in several years and haven't kept up on all the lastest case law.

BTW - I really do feel bad that you lost your job Mskanga, it's no fun for anyone, but did you call in that day or just not show up? If you were scheduled, were told "no" to a day off, and didn't call in then they probably consider that you were terminated "for cause" and in some States that can prevent unemployment. Unless you are of a different protected class (age, race, sex, etc.) than your co-worker, the fact that you were fired and she wasn't isn't necessarily discrimination, it may not be fair, but it doesn't make it illegal. Even if you are of a protected class, you will need to be able to prove that was the reason for your termination... which is not always so easy to prove. Unfortunately, being terminated because you boss doesn't care for you isn't illegal, unless the boss doesn't care for you BECAUSE of your age, race, sex, etc.