The Company's Stance

It appears that I spoke a little too soon (if 11 days is too soon) in my previous post. The caseworker responded to my request for information on why I was denied for a peer review. It doesn’t make much sense but here it goes...

Hello Michael,

Thank you for your patience in researching your questions. As for the peer review, I believe the Employee Relations Team responded to you stating that it was denied per the guidelines. This is because there is not a peer review practice for a termination for unexcused absences for a leave of absence.

As for your termination due to unexcused absences, you did have previous attendance points and with the unexcused absences for the dates you requested a leave of absence, this was considered excessive absences which lead to your termination.

I hope this information helps.

*****

LOA Caseworker

I replied this morning to let the caseworker know that I’m not going to just let this go. I spelled it out for her 1 more time in the hopes that she’ll & ultimately they’ll see reason.

The attendance policy states that on the 8th point there would be a "written warning". When my employment was terminated I only had 8 points. 9 points would be a "final warning" & 10 points would be "subject to termination". Nowhere in the policy does it state that my employment is subject to termination for attendance prior to receiving 10 points. I can name half a dozen people on my line alone that had 8 or 9 points & are still employed with your company. For the previous 2 years of my employment I had good attendance. For the first 1-1.5 years I had perfect attendance. I haven't been tardy in 3 years of service. I'm in the top 1-2% of people for hours worked for 2009. I've been given a promotion. I've been recognized by several of my supervisors for productivity as well as quality. The team in which I was in charge of was even given awards for our quality & we were #1 in quality again for the last 2-3 weeks of my employment. I've never been warned or written up. I've never heard anything negative about my attendance or performance from any of my supervisors or managers. As a matter of fact, my annual reviews have all been positive (one was actually a 5% which is the maximum that an employee can receive). I'm known to be one of the more knowledgeable employees. Our human resources department sent out an email before I was sick stating that if you were sick to stay at home. In other words, I simply don't see the justification in firing me. I don't meet the criteria for attendance points & I certainly don't meet the criteria in performance. You are telling me that my employment was terminated for "excessive absences" but there's nothing in our attendance policy that backs up your claim (other than the "reservation of rights" section that states that "The company reserves the right to interpret, change, rescind, or depart from this policy in whole or in part." This leads me to believe that the company is indeed changing & departing from this policy & the fact that there are other employees that are in worse situations as far as attendance, performance & have worked fewer hours for the year & still retain their employment leads me to believe that there's something else going on here. It's no secret that I've been outspoken about problems with my manager & even emailed a complaint to my local human resources department (which I have copies of) when he attempted to cover up the discovery of what was potentially child pornography, thus violating the companies guidelines. This leads me to believe that this decision was biased & potentially discriminatory/unlawful. The fact that I was denied for a peer review after my manager told me that I would be allowed to apply for one is also suspect. He even told me that if I did get a peer review that he would almost certainly be on the panel & would be against me. The company has left me with no other option but to seek help elsewhere. Thank you for your time. Good day.

I’m not going to let this go until I have explored all avenues. I’m stubborn like that. I feel that this is a form of injustice & I refuse to turn the other cheek.

Back At It

I’ve been in France for the past 2 weeks or so & have had limited internet access. However, I did receive an email from the leave of absence caseworker, apparently responding to my comments to the representative that had contacted me via telephone (see previous post). As you can see, they didn’t contact me within 48 hours as promised. It took them more than 96 hours (4 days). They’re not only slow in responding but they’re apparently incapable of passing along accurate information as well. I didn’t submit a question as to why my leave of absence was denied. I already know this. As I’ve stated since the beginning, I suspected that I didn’t qualify & that it would be denied before I was even forced to apply for it. What I actually asked for was information on why my peer review request was denied.

Hi Michael,

I did receive your question as to why your leave of absence was denied. We spoke on 9/29/09 and you stated you were unable to get the doctor to complete the physician certification and I explained without the physician certification I could not approve any time away from work and you would be held accountable to the attendance policy for any time missed from work and you stated you understood.

If you have a question regarding the amount of points that lead to your termination, you will need to speak to your Manager for a breakdown.

I hope this answered your question and if you need more information, please let us know.

****

LOA Caseworker

As you can see, this email is an absolute waste of my time. The caseworker is basically just reading to me her notes on a telephone call that we had. I can’t help but feel a little frustrated by this. Why? I was in the fucking conversation. Not only do I not need a review of our conversation because my own notes are far more accurate but it gives me flashbacks from a horrible database management course that I took in college where the teacher would spend an hour of our day reading a powerpoint presentation to us that was verbatim from the book. I always thought that this teacher appeared to be jaded & had simply given up. I get the same feeling when it comes to this caseworker. I gave her a more in-depth review of our conversation & asked her for answers.

Hello. When I spoke with you on the telephone I told you that the nurse practitioner that I saw wasn't going to sign for the dates previous to my visit with her & that I wanted to know from you what would happen knowing this. You stated to me that I would accrue attendance points. I told you that I wasn't concerned about this because even with 1 point per each day that I was absent (per the "2009 Attendance Guidelines") this wouldn't give me enough to justify termination (I would've been at 7 or 8 & not the 10 that are needed). You simply stated "OK" & asked me if I needed anything else. I was never given any indication by you or my local management that my employment could be terminated with less than the 10 points that are required. The company doesn't appear to have justification in firing me for attendance & I haven't been given any other reason so the fact that my peer review was denied & no reason was ever given is a bit suspect. Also, when the representative called me to tell me that I was declined for a peer review, she stated that it was "per the guidelines" but didn't have any further information. She stated, upon my request, that she would have an HR representative with more details call me within 48 hours. This was over a week ago & I have yet to receive a reason. I would appreciate it if you could tell me why I was terminated for having less than the required points & why my peer review request was denied. My manager, *****, stated to me when he fired me that this came from corporate & that he had nothing to do with it. If that's the case, contacting him will be a waste of time. If it isn't true, please let me know so that I can try to contact him (this is assuming that he's still allowed to email an employee that has been terminated). Thanks!

I was amazed at how quickly she responded. If only she had been this prompt all along.

Michael,

I will have to research your questions regarding the peer review and the attendance policy. Please allow me some time to research these issues and I will get back to you.

****

LOA Caseworker

Her last email was sent to me 11 days ago. I don’t know how much time “some time” is but I’m certainly not going to wait much longer because I’m afraid that I won’t receive a response at all & that I’ll end up with even more lost time. After all, how much time is a current employee going to waste speaking to a former employee before she feels that our conversations are wasting her time? I intend to find out.

Denied For A Peer Review

A human resources associate contacted me by telephone today to tell me that my request for a peer review was declined per “the guidelines”. This was all of the information that she had available. I told her that I would like to have someone from the department in charge of these things contact me & let me know why my request was denied. I was told that I would be contacted within 48 hours. That’s very convenient since I’ll be in France for the next 2 weeks where they won’t be able to contact me except by email. Given their track record so far, it’ll be a miracle if they bother to contact me at all. I’ll post more information if I ever get any. Otherwise it looks like I’ll be seeking justice through other avenues.

My Peer Review Request

Describe the problem or action being appealed and explain why you believe the policy or practice was not applied properly or consistently in this situation:

     

According to the “Involuntary Separation Notice” that was given to me by my former manager, my employment was terminated because I was declined for a “Leave of Absence” that I was forced against my will to apply for & suspected that I wouldn’t qualify for based upon my interpretation of the guidelines on the government’s Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) website. The “2009 Attendance Policy”, which is the only attendance policy that has been given to all employees at my location, fails to mention what will happen to an employee that’s absent for more than 3 days & leads those that read it in to believing that the worst that can happen is that they’ll accrue attendance points. This attendance points concept was reinforced by my FMLA caseworker when she stated as much. It appears that the company can fire you regardless of the amount of personal/sick days & attendance points you have accrued. It’s my argument that if I had been aware of this hidden policy, I would’ve instead returned to work sick & potentially contagious so that I would have been able to keep my job & in the process potentially spread my illness. It appears that I’m being punished for a policy that I wasn’t made aware of. I don’t yet know whether or not these actions are illegal but in my opinion they’re certainly unethical.

Date of incident: 10/29/2009

Proposed remedy: (Be specific about the remedy that you are requesting. In no case can the panel award more than what was requested.)

I request that I be allowed to return to work, that I receive backpay for all of the days that I have been out of work, that I receive vacation pay for those days that I had scheduled before I was fired (this is assuming that I’m not already being paid for this), that the company update their policies (e.g. the attendance policy) to include information regarding FMLA (e.g. “if you’re out sick for more than 3 days the company reserves the right to put in a request for FMLA on your behalf & if said request is denied your employment could be terminated regardless of how much personal/sick time you have or how many attendance points you have accrued) so that this doesn’t happen to anyone else, that the company make the necessary changes to the corporate human resources department so that employees are actually given the opportunity to speak (an email address would be even better for those of us that like to document our conversations for occasions such as the one I find myself in), with their representatives (e.g. FMLA caseworkers) & not avoided/ignored, that the company not send out emails that are misleading to employees if they don’t intend to follow their own guidelines (e.g. asking employees to stay at home when they’re sick, possibly contagious & then firing them when they follow said guidelines), that the company take the necessary steps to reduce the amount of dust & other allergens (blowout stations being enclosed at the bottom of the vents & not just sending the dust soaring through the air & in to everyone’s lungs, cleaning crews that clean each line, & enforcing a rule that prevents people from blowing out dust on the lines, etc.) throughout my location so that we reduce the amount of employees that are getting sick, that the company take the necessary steps to create a policy that ensures that employees that are on the verge of losing their jobs are told of the seriousness of their situation so that they can begin to look for another job (I always find it humorous that a company expects you to give them a 2 weeks notice when you quit, but they don’t return the same courtesy when they fire you) & that my FMLA caseworker be coached/penalized for avoiding/ignoring my messages & misleading me in to thinking that the worst that could happen is that I would accrue attendance points or if said messages were never given to her then the 2 representatives from India be coached for not relaying said messages & that the company take the necessary measures to make sure that said messages are always delivered (in the end, my caseworker had access to my email address so the entire thing appears to be inexcusable). If the company is willing to follow through with each of these requests then I’ll consider the possibility of returning to work. If not, the company will be proving that they’re both dysfunctional & unethical & I won’t allow myself to work for a company that is incapable of recognizing this, correcting their mistakes & preventing them from reoccurring.

     

I hereby authorize the Peer Review Panel or the ***** to review those portions of my personnel file which may be relevant to the investigation of my appeal. I realize that the decision rendered through the appeal process is final and binding on *****. I further understand that the Peer Review Panel or the ***** cannot change policy, work rules, pay, benefits, job ranges, performance appraisal or PDG, or promotion/staffing selections.

Name: Michael Mattingly  Date: 11/2/2009

What Happens Next?

As you know if you read my previous blog entry, I was recently fired from my job. I’ve had several people (friends, family, co-workers & even total strangers) contact me through various channels to show their support. There are some people that may not realize the importance of what’s happening here but the vast majority of people that I’ve been in contact with are all but demanding that I take this as far as I can. I intend to because I’m a man of principle. I’m going to continue on in the same spirit that I exhibited in the workplace. If I see something that’s wrong, I’m going to do something about it & if you get in my way, you’re likely going to look like an idiot before it’s through. I think that many of you realize that if this can happen to me, it can happen to you. No one is safe. It doesn’t matter how hard you work, who you’re friends with or how much ass you kiss. If they want to get rid of you, it’s only a matter of time. Some people would just brush it off & move on. I intend to, but not before I make my best attempt to right a wrong. Many of you have asked me what I intend to do next. I previously stated that I’m “exploring my options” & that’s true.

I called the corporate office today to request a “Peer Review”. If you’re not familiar with this process, it’s simply a panel of your “peers” that meet with you to discuss whether or not you should’ve been fired. I’m currently waiting to see if my request will be approved. My manager has already stated that he’ll likely be on the panel & will be against me. He & his friends better do their research because I’m coming prepared. I’m not going to get on my knees & beg for my job back. I’m a bit overqualified for the position in the first place. Instead, I’m going to teach them a thing or 2 about ethics, integrity & logic. May the best man (me) win. If they’re smart enough to offer me my job back, I’ll consider it, but in the end I have to decide whether or not I want to work for a company that treats their employees in this manner.

I also applied for “unemployment insurance” today. I hope that I don’t need to use this system but with the unemployment rate as high as it is I’m not going to take any chances. I obviously won’t make as much as I did when I was working, but between that & my wife’s paycheck, we should be able to get by just fine. Hopefully my former employer won’t fight me on this like they have with so many people before me, because they’ll lose. I guarantee it.

I’ve been planning to go back to school for quite some time. I was intending to utilize my former employer’s tuition reimbursement plan but it’s looking like that may not happen now. However, I’ve been reading all of the tuition assistance documentation on the FAFSA website & if all goes well, I’ll be a full-time student again next August. I’m looking at both the University of Louisville & Sullivan University. I have an Associates Degree in Applied Science (Computer Programming) but hope to get my Bachelor's Degree in the same field.

My wife & I are also toying around with the idea of starting our own business. She’s wanted to open her own restaurant for quite some time (she’s become quite the cook) & I’ve had various other ideas of my own (computers, photography, programming or web-design). This may end up being the perfect opportunity for us to do something like this.