company vehicle stolen I'm FIRED

[scram12r]

I am a female working in a mans field. It was 7pm at night in a heavly crime rated area. I stepped out of my company vehicle to speak with a customer. As a car rolled up a man jumped out had something in his hand...Jumped in my company vehicle and fled. I contacted my supervisor and he said "I will call you back" about 10 min's later he returns the call and gives me the number to the police department. I then call the police 15 min's later. As I stand in the middle of the street in a panic speaking with the police department my cell phone is going dead. I make the call quickly because I might need to call 911 again because of the area I'm in. 1 hr and 20 min's latley the oncall supervisor has arrived on scene. The supervisor pulls to the side of the road and leaves his vehicle unlocked & running and exits the vehicle. Then calls someone on the phone and walks down the street with his vehicle runnning and unlocked. I also had another job on my route that my supervisor said I needed to run with another technician (that had arrived on scene) Crying and very emotional I had to run another call in my log after all that had happened. The job was canceled but the fact of me running a job and facing a customer in tears is not good practice nor is it good for a company to leave a women in the field in a bad part of town for 1 20 mins'. I have been with this company for 6 going on 7, 2 months shy without any accidents or write ups. I have a file a mile thick from customers stating how good of a job I had done. I'm one of the top technician in the area. Do I have a leg to stand on? Fired for not securing company property.






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

 

[mlane58]

I am a female working in a mans field. It was 7pm at night in a heavly crime rated area. I stepped out of my company vehicle to speak with a customer. As a car rolled up a man jumped out had something in his hand...Jumped in my company vehicle and fled. I contacted my supervisor and he said "I will call you back" about 10 min's later he returns the call and gives me the number to the police department. I then call the police 15 min's later. As I stand in the middle of the street in a panic speaking with the police department my cell phone is going dead. I make the call quickly because I might need to call 911 again because of the area I'm in. 1 hr and 20 min's latley the oncall supervisor has arrived on scene. The supervisor pulls to the side of the road and leaves his vehicle unlocked & running and exits the vehicle. Then calls someone on the phone and walks down the street with his vehicle runnning and unlocked. I also had another job on my route that my supervisor said I needed to run with another technician (that had arrived on scene) Crying and very emotional I had to run another call in my log after all that had happened. The job was canceled but the fact of me running a job and facing a customer in tears is not good practice nor is it good for a company to leave a women in the field in a bad part of town for 1 20 mins'. I have been with this company for 6 going on 7, 2 months shy without any accidents or write ups. I have a file a mile thick from customers stating how good of a job I had done. I'm one of the top technician in the area. Do I have a leg to stand on? Fired for not securing company property.






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

A leg to stand on for what? Nothing you posted remotely suggests that the employer did anything illegal.

 

[cbg]

This unfortunately falls into the "possibly unfair but not illegal" category.

 

[commentator]

File for your unemployment, and move on. Before approving your unemployment claim, the office will do an investigation related to "what was the standard for securing the company vehicle?" "What were the basic procedures? How did the employee not follow these procedures? Had there been any previous warnings or violations?" And of course, since there's probably no company policy against having your vehicle stolen, there's no way you can be considered to have committed misconduct.

This will get you approved for unemployment insurance, but will not be grounds for any other sort of action on your part. Not fair, unfortunate, but not illegal. And there will be other jobs that probably won't be quite so hazardous.

 

[You Are Guilty]

File for your unemployment, and move on. Before approving your unemployment claim, the office will do an investigation related to "what was the standard for securing the company vehicle?" "What were the basic procedures? How did the employee not follow these procedures? Had there been any previous warnings or violations?" And of course, since there's probably no company policy against having your vehicle stolen, there's no way you can be considered to have committed misconduct.

This will get you approved for unemployment insurance, but will not be grounds for any other sort of action on your part. Not fair, unfortunate, but not illegal. And there will be other jobs that probably won't be quite so hazardous.

Not so fast there. Are you sure Texas (or the OP's city) doesn't have a statute about leaving a running vehicle unattended with the keys in it? A violation of a statute can be considered misconduct.

(And no, I have no clue whether Texas has such a law, but it's certainly possible).

 

[Hot Topic]

Why did you step out of the company vehicle at night to talk to a customer when you knew you were in a high crime area? Why did you have to be told to call the police? Why did you wait 15 minutes to do so? Seeing a customer in tears provides ammunition to people who think women are not tough (or maybe mature) enough to hold some jobs.

You chose to work in what, according to you, is a man's field. Choose more wisely next time or put on your big girl pants.