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wrongful termination

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tamih45356

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Ohio...We had some Clorox Outdoor bleach that had small leaks. Mind you this is Clorox Outdoor bleach, safe for use outside. There were 3 associates involved with this and the 1st associate dumped partial bottles down our outdoor storm drain. The total amount was maybe 3 gallons. Later to discover we had a few more with leaks and the grand total poured outside was maybe 6 max. Store manager reported to Fire dept and EPA...both tested and could not find and levels of anything. Mind you an Asst Manager, myself(supervisor) and an hourly associate were taking care of clean up. The hourly associate poured most into drain on his own. I admittedly did a few myself. The store manager stopped and asked if we (asst mgr and myself) called hazmat company for directive, I said no because its outdoor Clorox. Asst mgr said nothing. Manager said to at least wear rubber gloves. we did. 2 days later I go to work and get terminated for not disposing of the clorox properly. while the others still have their jobs. I believe I was wrongfully terminated. My work record is impecible. At most I believe a final write up would be justified.
What do you think?
 


swalsh411

Senior Member
That is not even in the same universe as a wrongful termination.

File for unemployment while you look for a new job.

You actually said you thought it was safe to dump large quantities of bleach in the storm drain because it was "outdoor". You either lied or are stupid. Either one of those is a perfectly legal reason to terminate you.
 

Beth3

Senior Member
There is nothing illegal about terminating you for pouring bleach down a storm drain. Whether you or I feel that is too harsh is irrelevant. Your employer gets to make their own call on this.
 

commentator

Senior Member
It may have have been harsh to terminate you, but not wrongful. File for unemployment insurance. Whether or not you may be able to get approved for benefis, which incidentally is your only recourse here, will depend on how much training, knowledge, you had about disposal of hazardous liquids. In other words, is this gross misconduct, something so bad you should have known better than to do it even one time? Have you had training on this subject, was there a specific company policy for what you should have done that you did not follow? Or is it something that had never really come up, you didn't know in any way that this action of pouring out the Clorox might lead to your termination. Just tell your story to the unemployment system and let them sort it out.
 

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