Was fired after my union was told I was going to be fired if I sneezed.

[Allan A]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

I was working for a big food manufacturing company, during that time I was late and called in sick and racked up about 6 occurences due to missing days and tardiness Max is 9 had about a couple weeks until 2 occurences were removed. Well one day I was taking a shower in the employees locker room when I hear someone call my name it was my Supervisor he was standing at the entrance of the shower room watching me shower, shower doors were semi see-thru, he made an excuse that he was looking for someone that had clocked out and hour ago, he has access to time sheet records. I told my union steward and they said they would talk to the plant manager, they did and supervisor was suspended, when my supervisor came back he told my union steward that "if I sneezed i was gone" a week later my union rep told me they were going to hold a meeting between the plant manager, the union, HR and myself to file a formal report and deal with the situation. Later that week I was late and was told that was my final occurrence and that I was to be fired. I asked for proof and my manager said I received 3 occurences for 1 day I missed I remember that day I got a flat about 5 blocks from work and my wife was with me she did not have money and my debit was under my name so I called an hour before my shift, which was the rule, and told my manager I was not showing up because I have to pay the tow truck and go buy a new tire, he said it was ok. So it was only 1 occurance not 3. I tried to fight the occurrence but my union did not back me up, and got fired without proof that the occurences were not altered by my manager after I reported him. I never got the meeting with the plant manager and lost my job. Was this termination justified? And why wasnt the incident with me showering investigated further? Can I take legal action?

 

[justalayman]

what situation about the shower required investigation? but beyond that, it does appear the supervisor was punished for whatever grievance you had about the situation.

the rest is confusing as all get out. Why does it make a difference if it was counted as 1 or 3 occurrences? It sounds like a single occurrence was adequate to fire you. You say the union didn't back you up. Have you attempted to file a grievance on the action?

 

[Allan A]

what situation about the shower required investigation? but beyond that, it does appear the supervisor was punished for whatever grievance you had about the situation.

the rest is confusing as all get out. Why does it make a difference if it was counted as 1 or 3 occurrences? It sounds like a single occurrence was adequate to fire you. You say the union didn't back you up. Have you attempted to file a grievance on the action?

I was being watched by my supervisor while showering and thats why i reported him. Due to Union rules we need a total of 9 occurences to be terminated. If i had received 1 occurence i would still have my job since i got 3 I hit the union limit. I did not file a grievance because I did not know what to do.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

If you do not file a grievance, you are not protesting the action as a contractual violation and the union is under no obligation to intercede on your behalf.

 

[commentator]

Of course as soon as this termination happened, you'd file a grievance with your union. And file for unemployment insurance benefits. And let them sort through the whys and wherefores of your attendance policies and your violations of the attendance policies and the lateness policies. sounds as though, regardless of excuse, you had one dreadfully large contengent of tardies and lates, you weren't just sure of exactly how many... (Quote:".... and racked up about 6 occurences due to missing.Max is 9.") And "there were a few more days till two of them were dropped."

And then,Quote:"I remember that day I got a flat about 5 blocks from work and my wife was with me she did not have money and my debit was under my name so I called an hour before my shift, which was the rule, and told my manager I was not showing up because I have to pay the tow truck and go buy a new tire, he said it was ok. So it was only 1 occurance not 3. You weren't over sure, it sounds like, how many occurrences you had. It may be that you were fired for a genuine violation of company policy, regardless of whether or not the guy watched you in the shower for his own prurient reasons or not. Since they had warned you that you were in danger of termination, I'd have thought you would have been extra dilligent to give them no reason such as lateness or absence without a doctor's excuse while the other issues were in play. But it seems you did.

From the sound of this, you did file with your union and you were not supported. Is this the case? How about unemployment insurance? Have you filed, did you get approved for benefits or denied?

It is not illegal to say that an employee is "gone if he sneezes" or something of the sort, and then terminate him. It works better for the employer if he can show a valid misconduct reason for the firing. Being late xxx number of times over an xxx period is good enough to get you gone, regardless of excuse, even with a union if you keep pushing for it. Except a grievance through your union, and through filing for and possibly being approved for unemployment, I'm not seeing any other recourse for your termination. This is an "at will" state.

 

[Beth3]

Since you're male, one instance of your supervisor happening to see you in the shower does not constitute any form of prohibited discrimination/harassment if that's what you're thinking. If you think you were discharged in violation of the CBA, then you can file a grievance through your union. Nothing illegal has taken place.

 

[Willlyjo]

Since you're male, one instance of your supervisor happening to see you in the shower does not constitute any form of prohibited discrimination/harassment if that's what you're thinking. If you think you were discharged in violation of the CBA, then you can file a grievance through your union. Nothing illegal has taken place.

Apparrently, there was a violation of the CBA in that it mandates 9 occurances before termination for cause! Even if the Union does not protect him because he didn't file a grievance, he still has a Breach of Contract claim against his employer if he can prove that he should have only recieved 1 occurance point instead of 3 for his absense!

When one fails to file a grievance, the Union waives the employee's right to a hearing in which the Union represents the employee! It does not mean the employee waives his right to sue for Wrongful Termination in Breach of Contract!

 

[Willlyjo]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

I was working for a big food manufacturing company, during that time I was late and called in sick and racked up about 6 occurences due to missing days and tardiness Max is 9 had about a couple weeks until 2 occurences were removed. Well one day I was taking a shower in the employees locker room when I hear someone call my name it was my Supervisor he was standing at the entrance of the shower room watching me shower, shower doors were semi see-thru, he made an excuse that he was looking for someone that had clocked out and hour ago, he has access to time sheet records. I told my union steward and they said they would talk to the plant manager, they did and supervisor was suspended, when my supervisor came back he told my union steward that "if I sneezed i was gone" a week later my union rep told me they were going to hold a meeting between the plant manager, the union, HR and myself to file a formal report and deal with the situation. Later that week I was late and was told that was my final occurrence and that I was to be fired. I asked for proof and my manager said I received 3 occurences for 1 day I missed I remember that day I got a flat about 5 blocks from work and my wife was with me she did not have money and my debit was under my name so I called an hour before my shift, which was the rule, and told my manager I was not showing up because I have to pay the tow truck and go buy a new tire, he said it was ok. So it was only 1 occurance not 3. I tried to fight the occurrence but my union did not back me up, and got fired without proof that the occurences were not altered by my manager after I reported him. I never got the meeting with the plant manager and lost my job. Was this termination justified? And why wasnt the incident with me showering investigated further? Can I take legal action?

The answer is YES you can take legal action! You have a CBA (union contract) which requires you to be fired only for just cause! If you can prove that you should have recieved 1 occurance instead of the 3 that allowed your termination, you should prevail in a Breach of Contract suit against your former employer!

I'm curious though...why didn't you contact the union and confront them about not following through with a formal report regarding the shower incident? And why didn't you file a grievance concerning the wrongful 3 occurance points? It seems that having the union address your rights via the grievance procedure would be less complicated for you than getting an attorney to handle your Wrongful Termination.

Hopefully, you filed for UI benefits to secure some of the income you lost as a result of your wrongful termination. I don't know when it was that you were terminated, but I assume it was just recently. If so, maybe you can still address this matter by filing a grievance. If your union won't let you due to time restraints, you should definitely get an attorney. Based on what you posted, it should be relatively easy to show you never should have recieved 3 occurance points for 1 occurance. Unless, your supervisor cooked the books in order to show you were fired with cause.

Please keep us posted on your issue! Good luck!

 

[commentator]

In my long history of hearing why people got fired, I have learned to pick up certain things. This employee obviously had a problem with being on time and being out of work. He has a very vague reporting style about how many absences and tardies he actually has, when they'll go away, how many were counted against him, and all these other issues. Like a good many people who post on here, he probably deep down figured he might've been over the number, or at least that he was getting awfully close, but sort of thought it would come out in his favor if it really happened. "Whistling past the graveyard", so to speak.

If the union doesn't want to follow up with this, it probably means the union thinks they should've fired him too, that they don't see any grievance to follow up with. If an employee, regardless of how unionized the establishment, is in violation of HR processes and rules, especially ones as easy to document and spell out as tardiness and absenteeism, this employee can be fired, regardless of whether there is a union or not. I am not seeing any way there is any kind of breach of contract at work here. I assume the company has records of the absences and tardies.

I am interested in whether or not this person has filed for unemployment benefits and what kind of information the employer was able to present to the system about what the company policy is on absences and tardies, how many violations this person has related to this, and whether they had a good cause reason to terminate him because of them.

He's arguing that they got mad at him because he complained about the guy seeing him in the shower and fired him without a good reason. That's going to be very hard to prove, and wouldn't really do him much good. Unless there's wholescale sexual abuse of employees by supervisors going on, I don't quite see how he's a whistleblower, or where his liberties have been destroyed in any illegal way.

 

[eerelations]

Why are people assuming the union is refusing to do anything about this? The OP hasn't even filed a grievance yet - he needs to do that before he can even think about suing.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

Why are people assuming the union is refusing to do anything about this? The OP hasn't even filed a grievance yet - he needs to do that before he can even think about suing.

Because BA's are usually proactive about getting members unjustly fired back to work, before a grievance is filed. They then will have a steward walk the member through filing the grievance if that fails. They also tend to be sympathetic and trade back a persons job, if they were fired for cause but are basically a decent person.

 

[justalayman]

On top of anything else, OP would not have a breach of contract issue with the company. When there is a CBA, he is required to utilize the avenues provided by that contract. The OP must follow the grievance procedures outlined in the contract.

The CBA is not even a contract between the employee and the company anyway. It is between the union and the company with rights of representation of the employees given to the union.

If the union fails to act on behalf of the OP (if he requests such action) would allow OP to seek assistance from a higher authority in the union hierarchy (going to a district or regional or national office of the union). If the union fails to represent him, he may have an action against the union for failure to represent.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

He must file a timely grievance before the union has more than a cursory (Weingarten) duty to represent him.

 

[justalayman]

actually Weingarten rights are something else. They state that a union member has a right of representation during an investigatory interviews.

Wikipedia:

In 1975 the United States Supreme Court, in the case of NLRB v. J. Weingarten, Inc., 420 U.S. 251 (1975), upheld a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision that employees have a right to union representation at investigatory interviews. These rights have become known as the Weingarten Rights.

During an investigatory interview, the Supreme Court ruled that the following rules apply:

Rule 1: The employee must make a clear request for union representation before or during the interview. The employee cannot be punished for making this request.

Rule 2: After the employee makes the request, the employer must choose from among three options. The employer must: grant the request and delay questioning until the union representative arrives and has a chance to consult privately with the employee; deny the request and end the interview immediately; or give the employee a choice of having the interview without representation or ending the interview.

Rule 3: If the employer denies the request for union representation, and continues to ask questions, it commits an unfair labor practice and the employee has a right to refuse to answer. The employer may not discipline the employee for such a refusal.

Note that the employee must invoke the right of representation though. If they fail to do so, it does not allow the employee to argue their Weingarten rights were restricted.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

actually Weingarten rights are something else. They state that a union member has a right of representation during an investigatory interviews.

Note that the employee must invoke the right of representation though. If they fail to do so, it does not allow the employee to argue their Weingarten rights were restricted.

That is the duty of representation owed to one individual employee, on a specific matter, absent the employee filing a grievance. Unions, via the stewards, usually provide more than that level, however, that is the minimum level. Anything else, would not make a successful NLRB action.