Working for KMART really sucks.........

[sean2002]

Me and my brother in-law both worked for a KMART distribution center ion Ocala FL. I left over a year ago when they filed chapter 11. Now this week my brother in-laws girlfriend was to have labor induced todat @6:00am. So on Wed he went to the HR dept. at the distribution center to use his last vacation day to take off Fri to be there for the birth. They told him that in fact he had 2 days of vacation days left, so he decided to take off thur+Fri. Well yesterday they called him at his house telling them that they made a mistake and he did only have 1 day left. So he told them the she was going in th have a baby on Fri. Their response was, too bad, and if he missed Fri. he would be fired because he has no sick time left. Well she had the baby today at 10:12am, he ended up missing the birth of his first child.

 

[Azraele]

That's terrible.

 

[mpitts]

I would have told Kmart to suck the fat one and been there for my wife.

 

[Stark]

he would be fired because he has no sick time left.

was he really sick? or was he a lazy ass who used his sick time for vacation time and deserves to be fired? My sister in law is having a baby in a week or so and her husband has scheduled all of his 6 weeks of vacation around the birth. I don't feel bad for your bro-in-law who couldn't even plan two days.

 

[Lola]

i cannot believe that. That is horrible. I would have hoped Kmart would be nicer to their employees......:disgust:

 

[NetworkDad]

Hey, you dont need vacation time to go to your own kids birth! The US has this thing called the Family Medical Leave Act.

Covered employers must grant an eligible employee up to a total of 12 workweeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period for one or more of the following reasons:

for the birth and care of the newborn child of the employee;
for placement with the employee of a son or daughter for adoption or foster care;
to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition; or
to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition.

This applies to both women & men! (or fathers!)

Kmart can go suck itself...this is federal law. Now then...he probably would have had to take the time off 'unpaid', but Kmart must keep and give him back his same job when he returns.

 

[MichaelD]

Unfortunately, this is the power that companies have when the majority of their workforce is unskilled labor. Why do you think all the immigrants in TX do the horrible, dirty jobs out in the sun for $5 an hour? B/C they don't have choice, that's why. If they so much as blink the wrong way, they get fired. There's always a huge pool to pull from for unskilled labor.

Unfortunately, your B.I.L. seems to be in that pool. I feel badly for him and his wife. Best of luck to them and the baby.

 

[sean2002]

Originally posted by: Stark

he would be fired because he has no sick time left.

was he really sick? or was he a lazy ass who used his sick time for vacation time and deserves to be fired? My sister in law is having a baby in a week or so and her husband has scheduled all of his 6 weeks of vacation around the birth. I don't feel bad for your bro-in-law who couldn't even plan two days.

He is taking off 4 weeks under FMLA, but since he not married FMLA won't take effect until the moment the baby is born.

As for his sick time I do not know how he used it, but the fact is he would have only taken off Fri but they told him he had more time off than he really did.

BTW has anyone ever told you that you are a real ass?, because you sure seem to be.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: sean2002

Originally posted by: Stark

he would be fired because he has no sick time left.

was he really sick? or was he a lazy ass who used his sick time for vacation time and deserves to be fired? My sister in law is having a baby in a week or so and her husband has scheduled all of his 6 weeks of vacation around the birth. I don't feel bad for your bro-in-law who couldn't even plan two days.

He is taking off 4 weeks under FMLA, but since he not married FMLA won't take effect until the moment the baby is born.

As for his sick time I do not know how he used it, but the fact is he would have only taken off Fri but they told him he had more time off than he really did.

BTW has anyone ever told you that you are a real ass?, because you sure seem to be.

Oh heck yes! He's been told he's an @ss plenty of times. And a self-righteous, rude, condescending pompous @ss at that.

 

[yakko]

Originally posted by: NetworkDad
Hey, you dont need vacation time to go to your own kids birth! The US has this thing called the Family Medical Leave Act.

Covered employers must grant an eligible employee up to a total of 12 workweeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period for one or more of the following reasons:

for the birth and care of the newborn child of the employee;
for placement with the employee of a son or daughter for adoption or foster care;
to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition; or
to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition.

This applies to both women & men! (or fathers!)

Kmart can go suck itself...this is federal law. Now then...he probably would have had to take the time off 'unpaid', but Kmart must keep and give him back his same job when he returns.

There is no reason this law should apply to him.

 

[Stark]

Mike's right... i've been called an ass many times... probably by mike more than anyone else. It's my way of relieving stress after being nice to everyone at work all day.... them: "hi, my computer's not working..." me:"I'm sorry to hear that, I'm glad you called me instead of help desk to solve this problem. Have you rebooted?" them: "No, should I? ... Oh, that worked, it's fine now" me:"Thanks for your call, have a nice day..."

Sure, it's messed up that Kmart told him the wrong info and then screwed him when they figured it out... but if your bil was smart he 1) wouldn't have listened because he knew he only had one day 2) would have saved more than one day of vacation time when he knew his wife was pregnant 3) wouldn't have wasted his sick days 4) wouldn't work for Kmart

I have learned that it is the HR department's job to screw you every way they can. Don't trust them, and don't give them a reason to screw you.

 

[Aceshigh]

birth of first child vs. job with crappy company which obviously treats it's employees like sh@t.

Not a very hard decision.
Why didn't he tell them to shove it?

 

[sean2002]

Originally posted by: Aceshigh
birth of first child vs. job with crappy company which obviously treats it's employees like sh@t.

Not a very hard decision.
Why didn't he tell them to shove it?

They live paycheck to paycheck in a county where the average income is under 20K a year, if he looses his job he has now way to support his family. Believe it or not the Kmart DC is one of the best payng jobs within 60 miles

 

[Kevin]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Unfortunately, this is the power that companies have when the majority of their workforce is unskilled labor. Why do you think all the immigrants in TX do the horrible, dirty jobs out in the sun for $5 an hour? B/C they don't have choice, that's why. If they so much as blink the wrong way, they get fired. There's always a huge pool to pull from for unskilled labor. Unfortunately, your B.I.L. seems to be in that pool. I feel badly for him and his wife. Best of luck to them and the baby.

Believe me, some unskilled workers are very well off. In NYC, illegal Mexicans are common, hell they line up on certain streets and for $50 a day plus lunch, you can pick one up and they'll do lawn work and construction. At first I felt but I didn't know the whole story. It seems they are here just to work, and as soon as they make enough, they go back to Mexico and live like 'kings'. The local paper did some research and found out they send most of their money back to Mexico via Western Union in excess of $10 Million a year...

 

[BCYL]

Originally posted by: Stark
Mike's right... i've been called an ass many times... probably by mike more than anyone else. It's my way of relieving stress after being nice to everyone at work all day.... them: "hi, my computer's not working..." me:"I'm sorry to hear that, I'm glad you called me instead of help desk to solve this problem. Have you rebooted?" them: "No, should I? ... Oh, that worked, it's fine now" me:"Thanks for your call, have a nice day..."

Sure, it's messed up that Kmart told him the wrong info and then screwed him when they figured it out... but if your bil was smart he 1) wouldn't have listened because he knew he only had one day 2) would have saved more than one day of vacation time when he knew his wife was pregnant 3) wouldn't have wasted his sick days 4) wouldn't work for Kmart

I have learned that it is the HR department's job to screw you every way they can. Don't trust them, and don't give them a reason to screw you.

I actually agree with Stark... Why would your BIL only leave 1 day of vacation (and no sick leave) for the birth of his child? These things are pretty unpredictable... his wife might be in labor for quite a while and I sure want to be by my wife's side for a while AFTER she gave birth...

Now I agree Kmark was being a complete @ss in this situation... but then policy is policy... your BIL knew the policies before this situation and should have made sure this kind of thing could never happen...

 

[XZeroII]

I would have just told them goodbye and quit. I would have gone in there and made a huge fuss in front of all the customers about it and just plain quit. I would not miss my child's birth for anything. I might even break a window as I left.

 

[klah]

Originally posted by: XZeroII
I would have just told them goodbye and quit. I would have gone in there and made a huge fuss in front of all the customers about it and just plain quit. I would not miss my child's birth for anything. I might even break a window as I left.

I don't think there are very many customers at a Kmart warehouse.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: yakko

Originally posted by: NetworkDad
Hey, you dont need vacation time to go to your own kids birth! The US has this thing called the Family Medical Leave Act.

Covered employers must grant an eligible employee up to a total of 12 workweeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period for one or more of the following reasons:

for the birth and care of the newborn child of the employee;
for placement with the employee of a son or daughter for adoption or foster care;
to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition; or
to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition.

This applies to both women & men! (or fathers!)

Kmart can go suck itself...this is federal law. Now then...he probably would have had to take the time off 'unpaid', but Kmart must keep and give him back his same job when he returns.

There is no reason this law should apply to him.

ok why shouldnt this law apply to him?

he was a idiot for not checking into the law. he has the right to take time off without pay. They cant fire him or actually do anything to him.

but yeah he was dumb for planning on this with the last of the vacation days.
I would not have missed the birth of my daughter for anything. the $ he made that day just was not worth it.

 

[yllus]

I'm sorry to say it, but the guy's an idiot.

Miss that day of work anyway. Be there for your wife and first child. If necessary, sue the hell out of KMART for pulling that kind of BS. Yes, I said sue. Make it as ugly as possible and as public as possible. Settle for large amount of money. Invest wisely by moving out of that 60 mile range.

I'm sure it's easier said than done, but damn...

 

[poopaskoopa]

Why would/should he quit his job? Somewhere in the sean2002's original post, it indicates that he now has a child to support. How would quitting his job help support his child? Let's hear the clever solution to that obstacle once he quits his job(not that I expect him to, unless he finds another job) because the HR f-ed him over.

 

[Thegonagle]

Yes, there are rights that a father has as a parent. He can still sue. F--- K-Mart. I want that ghetto-ass K-Mart gone from Nicollet avenue in my neighborhood anyway. I'm sure there's a lawyer around who will take that case with little to nothing down based on the obvious violation of the law here. Can you please help my cause (no more K-Mart in south Minneapolis) by suing them? Thanks.