indefinite suspension

[k9_cribdog]

i have recently been fired for falsification of bereavement. my mother who is 75, lived with this man for over 12 years as man and wife. me and my siblings all considerd him our step father. after a long battle with cancer he died. i told my boss at work that my step father had died. i did not know if they ever had any legal binding. i assummed after twelve years that , this was a marriage. i have worked at general motors in lansing mich. for over 25 years. my real dad retired from there, as did two grand parents, and two uncles. i have never been in any trouble there. never been writin up even. i talkted to a lawyer on the phone and he said they stoped common law marriage in mich in th 70's. but they have something called fictive kin? all i know is that i am hurt and angry, and i would like to sue them. if anyone has an answer to my delema please help. thank you.

k9_cribdog

 

[cbg]

Unfortunately for your situation, berevement time is not mandated by law. An employer is not required by law to give you any time off, regardless of who the deceased is. They get to set the rules as to who is and is not covered under their bereavement policies, and they are not required to include any particular relative. It is correct that your state does not recognize common law marriages.

I'm not unsympathetic to your situation. I understand that you viewed this man as your stepfather, and I believe your employer could have been more compassionate to your feelings. However, they have not broken any laws in firing you for what they believed to be a misrepresentation.

 

[Beth3]

Ditto to what cbg said. Because he lived with your mother did not make him your step-father, even though you may have considered him as such on an emotional basis. If you had explained the situation to your supervisor, perhaps they would have extended bereavement leave to you anyway but what they know is that you claimed a legal relationship that did not exist. In any event, I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[TessKokko]

My deepest condolences for your loss.

From what I understood reading your message. the company GAVE you the bereavement time your requested, and then fired you when the company found out your step-dad was not legally married to your mother.

Question!!..who told the company your step-dad and mom werent legaly married?

seems someone is giving the company your personal info, wanting to cause you harm ( fired )

Check your manager or supervisor, someone that has something to gain by you being fired. A grudge? Doesnt like you for what ever reason.

I dont know much about law, but I would check with a lawyer. After 25 years in the same company, someone wants you out and found a good excuse.

Does this cause any problems with your pention? other company benefits?

I will assume ( and hopefully not make a Jack %$# out of myself ) since you work for this company, you have a book with thier regulations. or Union? start flipping threw those pages and see what gain the company has in firing you. something isnt right

T

 

[Beth3]

Tess, I think you're jumping to conclusions. There's no reason to believe there was some sort of devious plan to terminate k9 or that somebody had "something to gain" in letting him go.

You'd be surprised how many times an employer accidentally finds out something an employee told them wasn't on the up and up. It's quite possible that the company found out either (a) if k9 turned in an obituary notice (which some companies require), or (b) they found out by accident.

The most common manner is an employee mentioning something to a co-worker and the co-worker then telling the supervisor or HR (as in "Mary said her grandmother's boyfriend died - how come she got funeral pay for that? I didn't get funeral pay when my brother's girlfriend died.")

No offense but I think you may have read one too many spy novels. Employers don't have the resources or the time to plot in the manner you're suggesting.

 

[rentertooo]

You can consider this marriage discrimination....


THE REASON your mom didnt marry your "step dad" is:

MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY!!!!!!

Social security would have reduced her beneifts if she remarried !!!!!


NO KIDDING!

 

[Vincent Cosent]

File a greivance

You work for GM for more than 25 years and dont know the contract rules on bereavement.Hmmmmmmmm
Sounds fishy to me.
Do you know what union you belong to?
Should be the UAW.
See them.

 

[TessKokko]

spy books or no spy books. This man concidered the man his mother was living with for 12 years HIS step-dad.

besides, why would it matter if his mother married this man or not? I still say something isnt right.

I bet ya if he takes this to court, he will win. there is also a law called palimony. they fall under that catagory.

After 25 years in the same company, then he gets fired for this?
ok...blame it on the spy books. But ive seen and heard too many stories about companies firing when it Suits them !!.

and for MR RENTER...........sad but very true. some people rely on widows pention to live on. and your point??

by the way.....when you fill out your forms for medical benefits...you can declare FAMILY and INCLUDE the man/woman you are living with but not legally married. They concider it a "family" structure. As long as you pay, they dont care if you are legally married ? but the moment they have to pay YOU...sorry, you lied. your fired!!

 

[cbg]

Excuse me, Tess, but not all companies allow you to cover domestic partners on your health insurance by a long shot. You are making WAY too many assumptions here and your conclusions are not based on any kind of fact.

I don't know what you've heard, but in 49 out of 50 states it is legal to fire someone for any reason or no reason, just not an illegal reason. If someone really wanted the poster out that badly, they wouldn't have to wait for this kind of scenario to play out. And contrary to what you and a great many others appear to think, employers really don't wake up in the morning and say, I've got nothing else to do today, I think I'll fire someone, and then pull a name out of a hat.

 

[TessKokko]

Cbg... I never said the company needs a reason to fire him or anyone. I was stating that since after 25 years in the same company, he gets fired because he wanted bereavement time. Yes I do see something strange in this picture. He was a good employee for 25 years, ( he lasted that long, ) then he gets fired?

Do I feel companies do as they please when they please? YES !!

and there is no one to stop them.

Check your legal references, MOST states will allow you to add a live in partner on your medical benefits.

 

[cbg]

Tess, you are the one who needs to check her resources. This is what I do for a living. Yes, it is LEGAL for a company to allow their employees to add domestic partners, but in the large majority of states it is not REQUIRED. It is up to the company AND, in many cases, the insurance carrier, to decide if they want to allow them or not. Many don't.

Besides, I never said that I agreed with the decision the poster's company made. Only that it was legal.

 

[Beth3]

Ditto to what cbg said.

Including domestic partners as a dependent on an individual's group health plan through their employer is not a State regulatory issue, it's an employer's plan design option. The majority of employers do not include domestic partners in their definition of a dependent for group health purposes.

And while k9's employer's decision seems severe, we don't necessarily have all the facts. What we do know is that the individual who passed away was not legally her step-father, which is what she conveyed to her employer. There is no basis for legal action here.