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candybar2238

Junior Member
What is the name of your state: California

I was a loss prevention manager for a major retail store. An accident occured where an associate slammed her thumb in the safe. Another hourly associate rushed her out of the store and to the doctor. While they were on the road they called our operations manager and told her what happened. Our operations manager handed me the phone and I told them where to take the injured associate. They ended up going to an urgent care center that was not in our insurance companys network. I then went to the urgent care and found out from the doctors office that she was getting a few stitches and that she would be fine. So with that I went back to the store. A few hours later the injured associate returned and told me the same thing again, that the doctor said she would be fine and had a follow up appointment two days later. So, I informed the manager on duty (the operations manager). The next day i was to start a 6 day vacation. Two days later I received a phone call from one of my associates saying that during the follow up appointment it was determined that the injured associate needed emergency surgery or she could lose her thumb. They rushed a doctor in to perform the surgery. The next day while still on my vacation I was informed by the injured associate that she would be out for two weeks. Us having a return to work program I did not accept this and went into the store and informed the HR lead and Store manager of this. The HR lead told me she would call the doctor and inform him that we wanted her back to work ASAP. Well to sum it up, when i returned to work i was told to write a statment of what happened, then a week later i was fired for not handeling the accident correctly.

Reasons given by store manager during the termination:

Did not find out from doctor's office what happened - I did do that as stated above.
Did not inform the store manager of the accident - no policy states the store manager has to be called at home and told about an accident, in fact the manager on duty was informed. Who by the way was the operations manager who is in charge of the safety program.
Did not get a second opinion from a doctor in our network - Did not have time, also did not seem reasonable. The doctor's office stated that all she needed were stitches and she was ok.
Did not call the accident in right away. - Accident was called into the insurance company the next day under the 24 hours which is stated under policy.

And lastly, I was on vacation and still worked on this accident from home, all with the store manager, operations manager, and HR lead having known about what had happened.

And no, no one else was fired for this. Any help would be appreaciated. Thanks.
 


Shay-Pari'e

Senior Member
First of all, you are an *At Will* employee, and can be fired for whatever reason. This is what caught my attention:
(QUOTE)Two days later I received a phone call from one of my associates saying that during the follow up appointment it was determined that the injured associate needed emergency surgery or she could lose her thumb. They rushed a doctor in to perform the surgery. The next day while still on my vacation I was informed by the injured associate that she would be out for two weeks. Us having a return to work program I did not accept this and went into the store and informed the HR lead and Store manager of this.(QUOTE)

You didn't accept this? The employee could have lost a limb!

You blew it, and your emplorer knows you blew it. You have no case.
 

candybar2238

Junior Member
no no no.

You mis-understood what I said. I meant that by us having a return to work program we could get the associate back to work and accommadate any work restrictions she has. We don't want her out for two weeks of we can get her back to work.
 

BelizeBreeze

Senior Member
candybar2238 said:
You mis-understood what I said. I meant that by us having a return to work program we could get the associate back to work and accommadate any work restrictions she has. We don't want her out for two weeks of we can get her back to work.
no no no YOU misunderstand. Absent an employment contract, you are at-will and can be fired for any non-protected reason.

Why is inmaterial.
 

moburkes

Senior Member
candybar2238 said:
You mis-understood what I said. I meant that by us having a return to work program we could get the associate back to work and accommadate any work restrictions she has. We don't want her out for two weeks of we can get her back to work.
What part of her doctor's orders that she not return to work after surgery didn't you understand? You think she simply didn't want to work for two weeks with no pay? Out of curiousity, what could she have done, in your retail environment, while only using one hand?
 

fairisfair

Senior Member
moburkes said:
What part of her doctor's orders that she not return to work after surgery didn't you understand? You think she simply didn't want to work for two weeks with no pay? Out of curiousity, what could she have done, in your retail environment, while only using one hand?
ummm, put those little smiley stickers on people?? ;) :D
 

xylene

Senior Member
moburkes said:
Out of curiousity, what could she have done, in your retail environment, while only using one hand?
Indeed, and what tasks in the retail environment could she do with that one hand while remaining quiet and relatively still to avoid increasing the blood pressure and damaging or negating the delicate surgical repairs that are saving your company signficant money compared to her losing one of her MOST IMPORTANT DIGITS.

Please tell me it was her dominant hand too. :rolleyes:

I mean it isn't like it is one of the "useless" digits (pinkie) :D

Get your thumb out of you know where and put it to use as you type up your resume.
 

moburkes

Senior Member
:p
fairisfair said:
ummm, put those little smiley stickers on people?? ;) :D
Okay, okay! You got me! She's probably lose that other hand if she tried that, though! At least, if she tried that on ME, anyway!!:p
 

gawm

Senior Member
moburkes said:
What part of her doctor's orders that she not return to work after surgery didn't you understand? You think she simply didn't want to work for two weeks with no pay? Out of curiousity, what could she have done, in your retail environment, while only using one hand?
In most retail stores if you get hurt on the job, they put you on something called light duty. It does not matter if you come in and lick stamps or just sit in a chair for 8 hours. They don't want you to have any fun on their dime.
 

ecmst12

Senior Member
But if your doctor hasn't released you back to work even for light duty, then they can't force (and in fact shouldn't allow) you to go back to work.
 

moburkes

Senior Member
ecmst12 said:
But if your doctor hasn't released you back to work even for light duty, then they can't force (and in fact shouldn't allow) you to go back to work.
That's my point.
 

gawm

Senior Member
ecmst12 said:
But if your doctor hasn't released you back to work even for light duty, then they can't force (and in fact shouldn't allow) you to go back to work.
Your doctor? Good one!:D ;) You don't get to see your doctor if you get hurt at work:confused: You see the company doctor. And they always release you for light duty because all you really do is sit in a chair. My friend had a broken knee cap and they still made him come in everyday for 4 months. Our job requires heavy lifting, but light duty all you do is come in and sit in a chair, literally.
 

Gadfly

Senior Member
What did I miss here? No work due to a thumb injury? Did the other hand and her brain get injured too?
 

ecmst12

Senior Member
Depends. If the company wants you to see their doctor, then you do, but they may just proceed on the advice of the private doctor that you see. But either way, *A* doctor needs to release you to work before you can go back. Which was the point.
 

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