Terah Has A Question On Behalf Of A Coworker

What to do? What to do?

Back on December 27th, only four days away from her 21st birthday, Foofy Sparklepants got into a terrible wreck on her way to work. This asshole was driving drunk and failed to yield. Foofy hit him (though the wreck was his fault) and got screwed up. Even now, in March, she’s still going to the doctor over it and is in pretty bad shape.

Last night, I learned that she now has 10 points on our 10-points-and-you’re-fired system.

This is related, because on the days she wasn’t at work due to being IN THE HOSPITAL for the wreck, they gave her 6 points.

The rules CLEARLY state that if you call in on your shift, that’s a point. Technically, while she didn’t ‘call in’, she COULDN’T. The store found out about the wreck when Security let them know, and it was confirmed when Rooster showed up an hour late, because he had seen it and upon realizing it was Foofy, he stopped his car and went to help her. So, this is counted in the system as a call in. They WERE alerted.

The rules GO ON to say that it’s a point for every day you’re out, BUT IF YOU HAVE A VALID DOCTOR’S NOTE then you only get A HALF A POINT for the FIRST DAY and every other point you got for being out get erased.

Stumpy, her roommate, came in the next day with a doctor’s note saying Foofy was in no condition to work and he was keeping her off for the rest of the week and was advising she not go back until sometime in February. She ignored that and as soon as the pain stopped shooting everywhere when she so much as breathed, she was back at work on very light duty.

They never erased those points like they were supposed to, and now she’s dangerously close to being fired, because it takes SIX MONTHS of PERFECT BEHAVIOR to get a single point taken off your record.

So what do we do? I’ve told her that if they try to fire her on the basis of the points alone, to challenge it. She HAS a lawyer right now since they’re still working on the wreck case and the firing would result from the wreck, since most of the points are from the days she was hospitalized. I’ve let her know that if they let her go for any reason to demand to know WHY she’s being fired, but to not mention anything about the points until the if and the when, so they can’t claim it ISN’T the points when it will clearly BE the points.

I’ve also said there is the possibility of taking them to court for wrongful termination under the very rules they put in place and are ignoring. I don’t want her freaking out over this. I know my manager is NOT the one behind this at all, and that it’s coming from higher up. My manager is a wonderful woman and the kind of manager we all wish we had. She would NOT let Foofy get fired for this, but if it comes from higher up, there’s nothing she can do.

What do we do, RHU? Any more advice, any tips or help?

--Terah The Gas Slave

Comments

[Greenhouse Gal]

Depending on how long she's worked there, and how large the employer is, she may be covered by FMLA. If the attorney she's working with on the PI case isn't familiar with employment law in your state, your friend needs to contact an attorney who does work in the employment law field ASAP.

Note: FMLA=Family Medical Leave Act. There is a federal version, some states also have a state version.

Off the top of my head, if she is continuing to miss work due to injuries from the accident, she *might* have some protection under the ADA. Again, she needs to talk to an attorney familiar with employment law.

Good luck to your friend!

[HeavyP]

The point system you're describing sounds draconian to say the least - and from what I'm picking up on, while she may be able to get termination rescinded by removing some of the points, it sounds like some are there to stay. Find another job, because the rule system you're describing is BEYOND ridiculous.

[The Last Archimedean]

Find out whatever utter moron higher up is behind this and secretly arrange for their "retirement" via bazooka. Or if you're not feeling quite that vengeful, go one level above whoever the imbecile is and have imbecile's boss ream them a new one for ignoring the doctor's note and the hospitalization.

[Skittles]

That would definitely be illegal for them to fire her. I would tell her to inform her lawyer about the situation with work threatening her job. Odds are if her current attorney isn't familliar with those types of cases he/she can hook your friend up with someone who is. I don't know how much communication has gone on but I wouldn't necessarily wait to be terminated, I would start a harassment case immediately. She has a really good case considering that shortly after being in a wreck where she sustained serious injury and while still dealling with all of that her employers began threatening her job.

[Bitch Boy]

Rule #1 - Document, document document.

Rule #2 - Attorneys know other attorneys. They meet all the time. If they personally don't know of a good lawyer for dealing with a particular issue, one of their "buddies" may.

Rule #3 - Health first, work second.

Some will disagree with me on Rule #3 about it's placement.

[Zmidponk]

Be absolutely anal in documenting. Document when the crash occurred, when she went into hospital, when her work was informed of the crash, who precisely was told at her work, by who, and how. Document when when the doctor's note was obtained, who forwarded it to her work, who precisely received it, and when. It would be especially helpful if the manager is willing to sign something saying that yes, they were informed of Foofy's inability to work on X date at Y time, as this would be pretty solid evidence that the person who should have been informed of this was, in fact, informed in a timely manner, and so any of these 'points' that were added after this time, contrary to these rules, shouldn't be there.

However, HeavyP has it right. This points system sounds draconian and, frankly, merely a way to give the higher-ups an excuse to kick people out, especially if they're ignoring some of the rules involved in this system to ensure points stay on there.

[Mr. Misanthrope]

Document, document, document ... and hope that you're not in an at-will state.

I blew out a disc in my back, and was also terminated for attendance points. It's the au courant thing to do, don't you know. Points weren't removed when they should have been based on OFLA/MLOA paperwork. Even then, I would've been okay, but I missed a day one day before another point would have dropped off normally.

If you're in an at-will state, then it doesn't matter what they say in the exit interview. They can point to any number of things they don't like, and she can lose her job and be marked DNR. She may get UI -- I did, so that's something -- but the termination may not be unlawful at all.

[mel]

it sounds kind of stupid to fire someone for no reason other than a number next to her name. The manager would have to have absolutely no idea what was going on at any given moment to think "oh... this employee has ten points. I don't remember any of them and don't know who she is, so I guess I gotta fire her!" Really?

You can try askamanager.com for a second opinion, though the longer I read about issues like this, the more it sounds like employers can fire anyone at any time for any reason as long as it's not discriminatory...

[photoslave]

Terah, I think it's possible that we work for the same company. You can use the contact info on my website (my name is a link to the site) to shoot me an email.