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Does this seem like discrimination?

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tribal_turtle

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? - Maine

I was recently fired from my job. I was a Sales Representative at a local call center and was called into the office the other day and told that "I did not sound happy enough" on a phone call, and then I was informed that I was being let go. I was shocked, because for the last year and a half, one of the other employees in my department, Stan, has been coming in late for the last year and a half, stating that he had to be lat because he had to do laundry. He was warned numerous times, given 4 written warnings, a 45-day probation which he also violated by coming in late again, and instead of being terminated which was the stipulation of the probation, he was given a 3 day suspension and then allowed to return to work. One of the other employees (female) put in her 2-week notice yesterday, because she is so scared that she is going to be next. Also, I was the first female ever hired in my department since it opened 5 years ago. Prior to that, all they hired were ex-military men. I know that Maine is an at-will employer, but the disciplinary action given to me does not at all correlate to the disciplinary action taken toward my fellow employee, Stan. I have read some other posts on here, and I am not expecting a good answer, but thought I would at least throw this out there and see what others think.
 


enjay

Member
The problem is that Stan's offenses and your offenses are entirely different. Stan is tardy. You don't present the image that the company wants you to. If you could demonstrate a pattern in which a bunch of women were terminated for being late but a bunch of men weren't, you might be able to prove discrimination. Comparing the reason you were terminated to his lack of termination for tardiness proves nothing.
 

Beth3

Senior Member
I'm not so sure, enjay. I agree the offenses are entirely different but Stan has had the benefit of progressive discipline (and then some.) The poster on the other hand was discharged without any prior discipline or counseling. If she had engaged in any form of serious misconduct, that would be a different story but not "sounding happy" on the phone hardly qualfies.

tribal, I think it's worth talking to an employment law attorney and getting an expert opinion on your situation.
 

tribal_turtle

Junior Member
What I forgot to mention is that Stan is not only tardy, but also extremely rude to customers on he phone. There have actually been several people that do not even work in our department that say they can't believe how rude he is to customers on the phone. Also, Ryan that works in the same department, once told a customer that he was "boned", and that became a joke on the floor, and there was no disciplinary action taken towards him. I know that discrimination is probably a stretch, what about filing a grievance against the company? I just can't believe that the treatment that I received was fair.
 

enjay

Member
Beth, out of curiosity...would sales performance also be a determining factor here? If Stan were a high-selling salesperson and tribal a lower-selling salesperson (we of course don't know if that is the case), wouldn't the company be within its rights to give a higher producing person more leeway?
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
It might. And I don't think the poster necessarily has a slam dunk case. But I do think the differences in treatment are sufficient that it's worth getting an expert opinion.

I'm not Beth but I assume it's okay for me to answer?
 

tribal_turtle

Junior Member
I'm not Beth, but I do agree that if he were a higher-selling representative that maybe he would be given more chances that someone who didn't do so well. However, based on sales for the last year, I surpassed everyone except for the tech lead on our team. When my tech lead found out that I was fired, he spent about 45 minutes in the vice presidents office trying to make him see that termination was taking it way too far. He actually told him that if he were to leave tomorrow that he would want me to take his place as tech lead because I was the only one in the department that he could count on, and that I was the top-seller on the team, and that I always had a great work attitude. I have gone over every possible reason in my brain as to why Stan and Ryan and others have been able to get away with everything and anything there, but because I did not sound "happy enough", I get booted. One of there arguments was that when the customer called in, he said "Good morning, how are you?" and I responded, "Good". We were never on a script and I and all of my fellow employees always responded with a "Good", but for some reason, this call was what broke me.
 

Beth3

Senior Member
I know that discrimination is probably a stretch, what about filing a grievance against the company? File a grievance with who? Absent alleging that an employer violated an employment law, there is no external grievance procedure.

Yes, it is not at all uncommon to cut a some slack (and sometimes a WHOLE lot of slack) to employees whose behavior might otherwise not be tolerated if it weren't for the fact that they produce big bucks for the company but that doesn't seem to be the case here. (I don't suppose Stan is the CEO's loser nephew or anything of that sort.)

tribal, I don't know why your employer terminated you when some of your co-workers, who didn't produce as much, engaged in some pretty egregious conduct. It's certainly within the realm of possibility that your gender was the issue (at least since no other reason is apparent.) Like I said, you may want to discuss your situation with an employment law attorney and see if he or she thinks it's worth pursuing.
 

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