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
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