Rug Doctor Fires Man For Time Off

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: PaulNEPats
Not that I like what they did, but what can the guy possibly sue for? This country is way too damn sue happy.

Violation of a Federal law would be my guess.

If you read the FMLA guidelines it appears that what they did is very much illegal.

 

[JS80]

All they needed to do is place him on unpaid leave...

 

[DAGTA]

Corporate America.

No loyalty to employees. As such, no one should feel the need to be loyal (beyond doing the job as well as you can for your pay) to their employer.

 

[KarenMarie]

Originally posted by: dquan97
I think the CEO should personally call him and apologize/offer help in funeral arrangements.

I agree 100%. If the store manager had a lot of pressure to get stuff done and meet the numbers, as per head office, he might have screwed this up royally. It is up to the top brass to put this right.

Originally posted by: MX2times
I'll never use that company. I will also steer anyone I know clear of dealing with them after reading that.

Too bad the AT effect isnt strong like the force....we could put em out of business if it was🙂😛

Maybe we can find an email address and let ATOT know how we feel.
🙂

 

[RCN]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: PaulNEPats
Not that I like what they did, but what can the guy possibly sue for? This country is way too damn sue happy.

Violation of a Federal law would be my guess.

If you read the FMLA guidelines it appears that what they did is very much illegal.

I'm not sure about that.

Does the company employ over 50 people in a 75 mile radius?

Did they inform him that his previous absences in the last 12 months counted against his FMLA time? Did he exceed the 12 weeks allowed?

It is very possible they were within their rights to fire him....although I doubt it.

 

[aircooled]

They've always been a shady company. I used to work for it's founders.

 

[BriGy86]

this is indeed horrible, but we don't know if the guy that called him knew about his dieing wife, is it possible that someone was just left out of the loop?

if thats the case they still need to apologize, and explain the situation

 

[BobDaMenkey]

That's so fscked up dude. I don't care if they offered him his job back, to fire your employee over something like that is really fscked up.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: RCN

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: PaulNEPats
Not that I like what they did, but what can the guy possibly sue for? This country is way too damn sue happy.

Violation of a Federal law would be my guess.

If you read the FMLA guidelines it appears that what they did is very much illegal.

I'm not sure about that.

Does the company employ over 50 people in a 75 mile radius?

Did they inform him that his previous absences in the last 12 months counted against his FMLA time? Did he exceed the 12 weeks allowed?

It is very possible they were within their rights to fire him....

Yeah. We really don't know their side of the story at all except that
a. They claim they went out of their way to accomodate him
b. They dispute his claim that he had 160 hours of vacation time saved up, and in fact they claim he used up all of his unpaid leave (possibly the unpaid leave referred to in the FMLA?)

Whether they were within their rights or not, it's still a pretty bad reason to fire the guy if the news story is accurate (probability of that = 0%). I'd really like to know the company's side of the story.

 

[BriGy86]

Originally posted by: DAGTA
Corporate America.

No loyalty to employees. As such, no one should feel the need to be loyal (beyond doing the job as well as you can for your pay) to their employer.

so true

 

[Vette73]

Tell rug doctor what you think and/or ask for their FULL side of the story

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: RCN

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: PaulNEPats
Not that I like what they did, but what can the guy possibly sue for? This country is way too damn sue happy.

Violation of a Federal law would be my guess.

If you read the FMLA guidelines it appears that what they did is very much illegal.

I'm not sure about that.

Does the company employ over 50 people in a 75 mile radius?

Did they inform him that his previous absences in the last 12 months counted against his FMLA time? Did he exceed the 12 weeks allowed?

It is very possible they were within their rights to fire him....

Yeah. We really don't know their side of the story at all except that
a. They claim they went out of their way to accomodate him
b. They dispute his claim that he had 160 hours of vacation time saved up, and in fact they claim he used up all of his unpaid leave (possibly the unpaid leave referred to in the FMLA?)

Whether they were within their rights or not, it's still a pretty bad reason to fire the guy if the news story is accurate (probability of that = 0%). I'd really like to know the company's side of the story.

yeap. you do not know if he used up all hsi FMLA time or not. But still unless this is the 2nd time his wife has "died" (yes i had one guy say his wife had died twice. when she just moved out on him) then you do not fire a guy for this.

 

[Tom]

for some reason I thought he dyed his wife with carpet dye when i saw the headline..
😱

 

[michaels]

I emailed them and here is what I got back...


I got a reply from the president

I appreciate your concerns regarding the unfortunate situation involving Bernie Chippie and I hope the following information will provide you with additional perspective on the companyâ??s actions.

The decision to terminate Bernieâ??s employment was a local decision made by management in our Pennsylvania/Ohio region. Â Executive management at headquarters had no knowledge of Bernieâ??s unfortunate circumstances when the decision was made. Â Had we known of the specifics of his situation I can assure you this never would have happened.

When I learned details of the situation, I personally contacted Bernie at his home, to offer condolences and to listen to his perspective on how the events unfolded. Â The telephone conversation was extremely cordial and led me to convene a special meeting with all the management involved with Bernieâ??s termination, as well as several other members of the executive management team. Â

The meeting was brief and the group unanimously concluded that the decision to terminate was regrettable, and we needed to reverse it. Â

All of these actions took place prior to the situation becoming public. Â

It goes without saying that if we could go back in time, this situation would have never happened. Â But since we cannot do that, we at Rug Doctor are doing all we can do make things right. Â To that end, we have offered Bernie his job back with full reinstatement of seniority and no loss of pay. Â We also offered him additional time off to tend to his personal affairs following his wifeâ??s tragic death and are now awaiting his decision. Â We sincerely hope he accepts our offer.

Rug Doctor has always had, and continues to have, an open door policy, allowing employees to directly call the President and/or CEO if they believe they are being treated unfairly. Â Unfortunately Bernie did not take advantage of this policy. Â Had he done so, I can assure you this situation would be different.

I hope that this one incident doesnâ??t improperly or unfairly change your view of the Rug Doctor organization and its people. Â Rug Doctor employs over 750 people located in 30 states. Â We have an admirable track record with respect to employee relations. Â In fact, one of the major core values from our founder and CEO, Roger Kent, centers on fairness to its people, customers and business partners. Â Roger regularly mentions that the primary reason for our success at Rug Doctor is attributed to the value we place on our employees.

Thank you for taking the time to consider our response.

Tim Wall
President
Rug Doctor

 

[aircooled]

BTW- The CEO of Rug Doctor is a Jehovah's Witness, but might as well be organized crime. I know too much about this company.

 

[NogginBoink]

Originally posted by: Viper GTS
Don't fault the chain for what likely amounts to a single manager's poor choice.

This is akin to the Starbucks bashing post 9/11 because some idiot kid behind the counter charged the firemen for bottled water.

Viper GTS

Well, the single manager WAS acting as an agent of the company...

I do agree with Viper, though; this was likely done by one small-minded person who got a power trip from doing something like this and was totally unable to see the big picture.

It would be interesting to know who's correct in the dispute about accrued vacation, however.

(Note that to any rational person, accrued vacation wouldn't matter in the least in a situation like this; I'm just saying the difference in opinion is rather.... curious.)

 

[montanafan]

I believe this sounds more like a case one insensitive jerk of a manager that caused this whole mess, but many companies have policies concerning the number sick days you are allowed to use for the death of a spouse.

We had a similar situation at a school where I worked. A friend's husband was killed in a horrible mining accident. District policy says that you can use only 2-3 days for the death of a spouse. She was 7 months pregnant at the time and had a 4 year old boy at home who had just lost his father. Most people would think she needed more than 2-3 days to deal with it all, but her immediate supervisor was calling and asking her to return to work right after the funeral. Not surprising really because the principal was a first class jerk.

Because of the supervisor, she ended up having to go to a doctor and get medical documentation that because of the stess of the situation combined with her pregnancy he advised her not to return to work right away. That was the only way they would allow her to use more of her sick days rather than have her pay docked and possibly be fired.

 

[CKent]

Three cheers for unchecked capitalism. Look how heartless it's made people in only 2 centuries, just imagine the future.

 

[imported_Lucifer]

Originally posted by: BrokenVisage

Originally posted by: OdiN
Why are they using 13-year olds for labor anyway? And how did a 13-year old get a sales position?

ROFL, stick to TFNN if you can't read articles correctly.

Anyway, they did offer him the job back, whether it was out of fear of a lawsuit or not doesn't matter to me.

LOL. Aren't you the guy who said everyone over at TFNN are just a bunch of neffing morons? You don't have any room to talk, especially due to the fact that you have over 10,000 posts in barely over a year, with over 27 ppd. All of your 10,000 posts are useless nef posts.

Idiot.

 

[MX2]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Tell rug doctor what you think and/or ask for their FULL side of the story

Thanks. Hate email sent🙂

 

[Nutdotnet]

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: RCN

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: PaulNEPats
Not that I like what they did, but what can the guy possibly sue for? This country is way too damn sue happy.

Violation of a Federal law would be my guess.

If you read the FMLA guidelines it appears that what they did is very much illegal.

I'm not sure about that.

Does the company employ over 50 people in a 75 mile radius?

Did they inform him that his previous absences in the last 12 months counted against his FMLA time? Did he exceed the 12 weeks allowed?

It is very possible they were within their rights to fire him....

Yeah. We really don't know their side of the story at all except that
a. They claim they went out of their way to accomodate him
b. They dispute his claim that he had 160 hours of vacation time saved up, and in fact they claim he used up all of his unpaid leave (possibly the unpaid leave referred to in the FMLA?)

Whether they were within their rights or not, it's still a pretty bad reason to fire the guy if the news story is accurate (probability of that = 0%). I'd really like to know the company's side of the story.

yeap. you do not know if he used up all hsi FMLA time or not. But still unless this is the 2nd time his wife has "died" (yes i had one guy say his wife had died twice. when she just moved out on him) then you do not fire a guy for this.

Yup, we don't know the full facts on whether this was a viable FMLA case.

1. He was a 13-year employee, he most likely met the employee qualifications.
2. Did the employer have 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius?
3. Did the employee already use up his 12-weeks of FMLA and therefore was no longer eligible for FMLA leave.
4. What are the state laws regarding leave? Is there anything that supercedes FMLA?
5. Was this a "Chronic Health Condition?" I'd say yes, but I'm not a doctor.

 

[Tiamat]

Wow, thats simply terrible. THe dude had accrued many hours of vacation time as well!!

 

[OdiN]

Originally posted by: BrokenVisage

Originally posted by: OdiN
Why are they using 13-year olds for labor anyway? And how did a 13-year old get a sales position?

ROFL, stick to TFNN if you can't read articles correctly.

Anyway, they did offer him the job back, whether it was out of fear of a lawsuit or not doesn't matter to me.

If you can't read my sig, then I feel sorry for you and maybe you shouldn't post on ANY forums.

 

[OdiN]

Originally posted by: KarenMarie

Originally posted by: OdiN
Why are they using 13-year olds for labor anyway? And how did a 13-year old get a sales position?

Since there was no emoticons in your post, i will take it that you are serious.

he was a 13 year employee. An employee for 13 years. Not a 13 year old employee.

😛

You read my sig too.

Since when do I have to post emoticons to indicate that I'm not serious?

 

[imported_Lucifer]

Originally posted by: OdiN

Originally posted by: KarenMarie

Originally posted by: OdiN
Why are they using 13-year olds for labor anyway? And how did a 13-year old get a sales position?

Since there was no emoticons in your post, i will take it that you are serious.

he was a 13 year employee. An employee for 13 years. Not a 13 year old employee.

😛

You read my sig too.

Since when do I have to post emoticons to indicate that I'm not serious?

Emoticons are a must on this forum.