Terminated for being safe?

[NomadSoul]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Missouri


Hello,

I was a Satellite Technician for a company installing DirecTV. I had no attendance issues and no complaints from any of my customers. The weather a few days ago was unsafe in my opinion. It was 33 degrees, raining and the weather advisory was telling everyone to stay inside if possible. I called my team leader to tell him I needed my route rescheduled and he said "why?". I told him it was wet and cold and I had no way to stay warm and that was unsafe. He asked if it was frozen in my area and when I told him no he said "So, you're refusing to do your route?". It really ticked me off that he was being so rude about this and I said "Yes, i am refusing to do my route today."

So, now I'm unemployed and wondering if anything can be done about this. I invested $1,500 of my savings to get started in this business and now they're just dropping me.

Thanks,
Joe

 

[cbg]

It is perfectly legal for them to fire you for refusing to do your route.

 

[pattytx]

cbg, I'm asking this not because I disagree with you, but because I am curious. If indeed, an individual truly thought the weather caused an unsafe
working environment, could this not be an OSHA issue, and the employee be justified in refusing to work in such an environment? I really don't know that much about OSHA, so I'm just checking.

 

[cbg]

OSHA isn't my strongest area either. But in this particular instance, the roads were not frozen by the poster's own admission. So it wasn't really an issue of safety; it was an issue of comfort. A weather advisory (aka, the local radio station) saying stay home if you can, does not have the same clout as, for example, the governor declaring a state of emergency and asking all non-essential personnel to stay off the roads. If the decision of safety were left up to the employee's judgement call, we could have people deciding not to come in whenever it rained, or in a snowfall that only measured a dusting, and the employer would have no recourse.

 

[Beth3]

OSHA isn't my area of expertise either but in terms of any reg's regarding environmentally safe working conditions, their paramaters are extremely broad.

Speaking as someone who drove to work yesterday in a fairly heavy snow storm with 8" of slippery snow already on the ground, 33 degreees and rainy would have been a treat. Joe was free to refuse to work; the employer was free to fire him. I don't believe this is remotely an OSHA situation, much less a violation.

 

[NomadSoul]

Thanks for the input

This wasn't an issue of driving in these conditions. It was an issue concerning working in these conditions. I had attempted a job the night before when it was 34 degrees and the rain soaked my gloves and hands making them numb in 20 mins. This job entails working outdoors for 1-2 hours to complete the installation. Just seems like an employer shouldn't be able to force an employee to work in an unsafe manner like that.

 

[HomeGuru]

Thanks for the input

This wasn't an issue of driving in these conditions. It was an issue concerning working in these conditions. I had attempted a job the night before when it was 34 degrees and the rain soaked my gloves and hands making them numb in 20 mins. This job entails working outdoors for 1-2 hours to complete the installation. Just seems like an employer shouldn't be able to force an employee to work in an unsafe manner like that.

**A: then may I suggest moving to Florida or Hawaii.

 

[cbg]

As I said, you are talking about comfort, not safety.

 

[Beth3]

Nomad, I wouldn't enjoy working in those conditions either but that's why I didn't pursue a career field that would require me to do so.

Think for a moment about all the individuals who work in extremes of weather conditions - telephone repair people, power company employees, firefighters, construction workers, road workers, police officers, agricultural workers.. the list is probably darn near endless. Even people who work indoors frequently work in somewhat extreme to extreme environmental conditions - furnace tenders, die casters, butchers, food wholesale workers... I assure you that nothing you describe constitutes an OSHA other safety violation.

You need to find another line of work if you aren't willing to work in those types of conditions.