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You Be The Judge

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Turkeytop
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You Be The Judge

Post by Turkeytop » Mon Jul 12, 2021 10:18 pm

Grievor - Male, age 43

Seniority - 12 years

Job Title - Assembler

Rate of pay - $18.50/hr

Discipline Record - Good

Nature of Grievance - Improper Discharge

Remedy Sought - Reinstatement with no loss of Seniority plus three days bereavement pay


The Company employs 70 people at its plant in a small Ontario town, where they manufacture one of North America's best known brands of water heaters for residential, commercial, and institutional use.

The collective agreement provides several circumstances under which an employee can be discharged and their name removed from the Seniority List. One of the reasons listed is unauthorized absence for more than 3 consecutive days.

The collective agreement provides that the employer will consider a request from an employee for a leave of absence up to thirty days for good reason. The employee can further request an extension of such leave for an additional thirty days if needed The employer has the sole discretion to grant or deny any request for leave.

The collective agreement also provides for three days paid bereavement leave in the event of a death in the family.

The Plant Manager had in his voice mail one morning a message that had been left the previous evening. The employee was requesting a leave of absence. His mother in law in Ireland was gravely ill and he and his wife were on their way to the airport to fly to Ireland. He didn't leave any address or phone number where he could be contacted

The Company's HR person called me the next day to advise me what had happened. She said they couldn't approve a leave for an indefinite term and the employee had failed to specify the term. She said she had no choice but to deny the request for leave. However she offered that if I could contact the employee and tell him to make a proper request for leave she would consider the request. She agreed to wait seven days to give me an opportunity to reach the employee. The trouble was, he hadn't left any contact information with the Union either.

Ten days later, the Company sent a registered letter to the employee at his last known address advising him that his employment was being terminated. They sent a copy of the letter to the Union. The employee's letter was undeliverable and was returned to the Company.

Three weeks later the Plant Manager had another voice mail saying the employee's mother in law had died and requesting that the Company deposit three day's pay in his bank. The Company did not deposit the money because it was their position that the person was no longer an employee.

Another provision in the collective agreement allows that an employee has up to ten days to file a grievance following discharge. Such grievance must be signed by the employee.

Without a signed grievance we could not proceed. I contacted the HR lady and requested that the Company waive the time limits for filing a grievance. She consented to the waiver.

Did the grievance ever succeed?


I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.

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Robert Faygo
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Re: You Be The Judge

Post by Robert Faygo » Mon Jul 12, 2021 11:07 pm

Nope!

But maybe they worked out a deal to rehire him with less seniority? Basically the minimum number of years so that he'd be at the same pay and maybe even the vacation time as he was before abandoning his job.

I respect putting family first, but you've got to do better with keeping your employer in the loop.


Wellllll... la de frickin da

Matt
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Location: Where Ben Zonia couldn't cut it

Re: You Be The Judge

Post by Matt » Tue Jul 13, 2021 6:42 am

Maybe, depends on if the employee was responsive after the second VM.


What's more pathetic: harassing an old man who is paying to do a radio show or supporting a grifter like Trump?

zzand
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Location: right here

Re: You Be The Judge

Post by zzand » Tue Jul 13, 2021 6:56 am

If it has been explained to employees as clearly as you explained it here then the answer should be no. He didn't follow any of the "rules" with his request and didn't give the union or employer any way to get in touch with him.



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Turkeytop
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Re: You Be The Judge

Post by Turkeytop » Tue Jul 13, 2021 1:43 pm

After three or four months this case was no longer even on my radar. I had forgotten it. Then one day, I heard from one of his coworkers that the guy had called him from Ireland over the weekend. He had told him that his late mother in law had owned a small country store. He and his wife had decided to stay there and operate the store. They didn't plan to return to Canada at all. They liked the Irish Pub scene.

II asked if he had given him any address or phone number. He hadn't. That was unfortunate. I believe the Company would have agreed to some amount of severance pay in exchange for a signed resignation.

There was nothing I could do with the second hand information that had been imparted to me, but I made a note of it and put it in his file.


I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.

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Turkeytop
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Re: You Be The Judge

Post by Turkeytop » Sat Jul 17, 2021 9:21 pm

Sorry to have kept all of you in suspense for so long. :lol

About a year later, the guy called me from Ireland. His exact words were "Get me out of here." He hated Ireland. Said it was always raining.

I told him we could still file a grievance because the Company had agreed to waive the time limits. He gave me a number where I could FAX the grievance to him and I told him to return it to me with his signature. When I got it back I presented it to the Company.

What he had going for him was his good record. For twelve years he had been a good, hard working employee. The Company valued that. But they felt they had to send a message to him and to other employees that you can't just walk away from the job without informing the employer.

The HR Lady made a proposal that I thought was fair and I called our guy in Ireland and recommended he accept it.
Their offer was for him to return to work on the first day of the following month (about three weeks away.) He would return to work with the same seniority he had when he left. He would not accrue any additional seniority for the time he was not at work. As a result, two employees who had been behind him in seniority ranking, would now be ahead of him.

He would not be returning to his former job, When the job had become vacant, the Company had posted the job and the employee now it the position was one of the employees who had overtaken the grievor in seniority ranking. The grievor would be placed in another position with slightly less pay than his former job.

The First of the month, his date of return was a Thursday. But the Company would pay him for a five day week. The other three days would be the three day paid bereavement leave.

Our grievor and his wife left Ireland and returned to Canada in time for him to return to work as scheduled.


I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.

Deleted User 14896

Re: You Be The Judge

Post by Deleted User 14896 » Sun Jul 18, 2021 12:18 am

Turkeytop wrote:
Sat Jul 17, 2021 9:21 pm
Sorry to have kept all of you in suspense for so long. :lol
Heck. I thought you put the ribbons on this topic in your previous post.
Last edited by Deleted User 14896 on Sun Jul 18, 2021 2:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.



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TC Talks
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Re: You Be The Judge

Post by TC Talks » Sun Jul 18, 2021 2:15 pm

It's always good business to work with good employees.


“The more you can increase fear of drugs, crime, welfare mothers, immigrants and aliens, the more you control all of the people.”
― Noam Chomsky

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Realist
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Joined: Wed Dec 13, 2006 10:36 pm
Location: Northern Michigan

Re: You Be The Judge

Post by Realist » Sun Jul 18, 2021 4:23 pm

TC Talks wrote:
Sun Jul 18, 2021 2:15 pm
It's always good business to work with good employees.
Instead of being like my workplace where they want us to “Be positive!” simply to cover up their continual mis management and incompetence. When I get told by my supervisor to “be positive or else”, any semblance of that for me goes right out the window. Now they seem to be hiring cheerleaders for employees who are nauseating with this attitude.

I can’t fucking wait to retire…



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Turkeytop
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Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:27 pm

Re: You Be The Judge

Post by Turkeytop » Sun Jul 18, 2021 6:11 pm

Realist wrote:
Sun Jul 18, 2021 4:23 pm


Instead of being like my workplace where they want us to “Be positive!” simply to cover up their continual mis management and incompetence. When I get told by my supervisor to “be positive or else”, any semblance of that for me goes right out the window. Now they seem to be hiring cheerleaders for employees who are nauseating with this attitude.

I can’t fucking wait to retire…

"The beatings will continue until the morale improves."


I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.

Realist
Posts: 979
Joined: Wed Dec 13, 2006 10:36 pm
Location: Northern Michigan

Re: You Be The Judge

Post by Realist » Sun Jul 18, 2021 9:55 pm

Turkeytop wrote:
Sun Jul 18, 2021 6:11 pm
Realist wrote:
Sun Jul 18, 2021 4:23 pm


Instead of being like my workplace where they want us to “Be positive!” simply to cover up their continual mis management and incompetence. When I get told by my supervisor to “be positive or else”, any semblance of that for me goes right out the window. Now they seem to be hiring cheerleaders for employees who are nauseating with this attitude.

I can’t fucking wait to retire…

"The beatings will continue until the morale improves."
Had that as my computer screensaver once. They ordered me to remove it



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Turkeytop
Posts: 8854
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:27 pm

Re: You Be The Judge

Post by Turkeytop » Sun Jul 18, 2021 10:02 pm

Of course, you can't identify your employer here, but what kind of business is it?


I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.

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