Foods CM needs advice! Rant ahead

[Hawkeye Jennie]

Hey all. I work in Gibson Girl - I'm a rehire and have been working at DL for 7 months now (originally worked there a little over a year.) I came back to disney to see about making a semi-permanent career for myself by getting into Circle D where my animal husbandry degree and exotic/large mammal animal experience might actually be of some use. Anyway I went through some rough times with infectious sickness, attending to my injured mother and my own work-related injury that overall cost me a LOT of attendance points. 37 total. I never heard a peep from management - no verbal, no written, nothing. Today they called me in to hand me the very late verbal and written I should have recieved 2-3 months ago and informed me that I was very likely to be termed within the next few weeks. Manager said there was maybe a 5 percent chance that I would be given a 2nd chance. Had I recieved that verbal when I was SUPPOSED to I would not have allowed any further points to acrue, illness and injury regardless. The whole point of verbal/written is to allow a CM the chance to play it straight and stay with the company but I was never given that chance. I was not informed that I had a problem until it was too late to fix that problem, in short. Can they really do this? Doesn't the policy first require a verbal, then written, THEN possible term? I put so much effort into this job! 60-65 hour weeks all summer, 12 hour shifts, etc. I even bought a more reliable car as soon as I was rehired since my old one was..um..unreliable, to say the least.

The job gave me a torn muscle and neck/vertebrae strain with 3 months of PT - and when I was put on medical leave to heal by the ER doctor I was marked 'no show' for each and every day. Yes, the Co. was informed that I was on medical leave...they just lost that information and played clueless when confronted about it. Upon being sent to the ER by ambulence (when the injury happened) I was even marked 'shift abandonment!' Paperwork to clear my name was faxed several times but declared 'never recieved' every time. We found one such crucial letter still sitting in CFA's fax folder a week after it was faxed. I finally had to hobble through the resort while drugged on pain meds during my med leave to hand over the paperwork in person to save my job.

Oh, then what? My managers start sending the evil eye my way because of my followup restrictions - I was given 'attitude' (that even my coworkers noticed) and often required to do work that strained and sometimes even disregarded my restrictions. They had me on my hands and knees scrubbing shelves when I wasn't even supposed to be bending at the waist much. The company's doctor was told about this and warned them. When I missed one dr's appointment (overslept, my fault) my management found out and decided to use it as an excuse to remove me from my restrictions without the dr's consent. He interfered once more and considered putting me back on medical leave since the overworking and crazy hours were delaying treatment and healing, at least in his words. On his order they lessened my hours so I could actually get the PT and rest I needed. Anyway the overall result was that my injury took 3+ months to fully heal. It should have taken 3 weeks. :(

(Btw I wasn't the only one being ill-treated due to restrictions. I knew two other CM's in my area who weren't any better off and one begged out of the area completely for that reason. This was about the same time that a sexual harassment issue was so poorly handled by management that 3 good capable CM's quit their jobs. Ya wonder why that area has such a massive turnover rate?) I too left the area ASAP and now work on main street.

Sorry about the rant. I'm just so angry and hurt..first that and now they intend to term me without the warning/chance to fix the problem that policy claims they will give me. Mind you I haven't had any major attendence issues since I started working main street about 2 months ago. I called a union rep but haven't recieved a reply yet..tomorrow I'm going to go by the office again (usually isn't anyone there.) I don't have time to fart around here - the ball is rolling. What's my best battle plan, if any?

Yes, I KNOW I landed those points myself. I am at fault. But for God's sake if they had bothered with a verbal/written when it was DUE 3 months ago I would not be in this situation now! Why would they just 'overlook' things until it's too late for me to fix the problem? Can't help but wonder if a disgruntled manager intentionally overlooked it until I was beyond help.

Oh, and to rub salt in the wound? I've already paid for a trip to WDW with my fiance via the castmember fall trips they do every year. We paid $1398 between the two of us and it's only partially refundable IF the refund is requested within 2 weeks of the trip date. If I'm termed I will be rendered ineligible for the trip. Our trip date is November 9th. By the time I know whether or not I'll be termed it will be too late to get that partial refund. I can request it now (and probably will) but if I'm not termed I can't reinstate our reservation. Ugh...better to lose the trip than lose a lot of $$$, of course. We were so excited about that trip, too. (We've never been to WDW.)

They offered me two weeks or said I can 'hold out' for a few more weeks and see if that five percent lets me slip through for a 2nd chance. I will NOT take two weeks..if I quit I can't sue for wrongful termination due to them disregarding company policy (aka no verbal or written warning when called for as stated in the handbook, just whammo.) Yeah, I'm that upset.

I'm going to go cry some more now. Any advice would be vastly appreciated.

HJ

[PirateJohn]

My advice? Get in touch with your shop steward then get an attorney.

[hobie16]

Call your local legal aid society and get a good labor lawyer. Take him/her to your next meeting with management and have the fear of god put into them. Also contact the National Labor Relations Board and file a complaint. DOCUMENT EVERYTHING!!!

[Hawkeye Jenny]

Call your local legal aid society and get a good labor lawyer. Take him/her to your next meeting with management and have the fear of god put into them. Also contact the National Labor Relations Board and file a complaint. DOCUMENT EVERYTHING!!!

That I will do if the shop steward can't do anything. I'm sure the doctor who was aware of my mistreatment while on restrictions will say a word for me. My leads like me very much, at that - they tell me I work well and work hard. I intend to ask them if they can help at all, even if it's just a positive word about me. Damn, I should have asked for a copy of the paperwork they made me sign today - it had the dates that certain points were acrued (aka when the verbal and such was due) and the date that the ridiculously late verbal/written was actually given to me "in one lump sum." I'll have to ask for a copy tomorrow. After I left the office today my lead and a couple coworkers noticed my distress and wanted to know what was wrong... my anger went poof and I burst into tears in front of everyone. I was too upset to tell them what was wrong (I fled for a bathroom and hid for a while to calm down since my shift was over anyway.) I'm sure she'll be on me like white on rice tomorrow and hopefully she'll stick up for me. I have calls out to the union and am awaiting response. In the meantime? Stress stress stress. :(

[SoarWhoreCoCo]

Hon you DEFINETLY need Union Help, legal representation (worker's comp divison) on call immediately and you need to contact Worker's Compensation Department of Orange County ASAP. Also, go back to the hospital/doctors and get ALL records and of your injury being work related, All time should have been paid/hospital bills/docotrs bills/follow up appointments and PT. Even here at WDW, there is a really bad occurance of MISSING doctor notes, restrictions, etc. Take all your info to your First Aid or HR Division that handles WC. AS for points, your matrix is different than ours here. But there is a time limit (14 days) to reprimands by our horrible contact and I am sure DL is much better contract.

The treatment you are getting about restrictions at work are the same here, they shame you into limited work programs here, like putting batteries in flaslights, folding silverware, etc. or make you feel guilty about being permed in a location or position (like you wanted this to happen).

To EVERYONE, never ever let your Company keep a docotor's note WITHOUT geeting a photocopy and the person who took it's signature on the photocopy, CYA. Keep the yellows from First Aid (Here at WDW) for at least two years in a file (I mean every yellow wheter it was a boil on your but or worse). If you have FMLA, keep track of time used yourself (they wont always tell you you used it all then terminate you because you had run out but kept calling in FMLA)you can pull up all record cards in Portal now make copies monthly and put them in a file. ANYTIME you get hurt at work follow proper channels...Notify Lead/Manager, Go to Cast First Aid (even if you just msashed your hand in a door and dont think it's anything) THEY MUST LET YOU GO BY WC LAW!, get you documentation, if your sent to a hospital fill out WC paperwork there and ASAP get it into Disney Records VIA First Aid or Policy. And yes it's a pain in the ass but until you get the paerwork to the company call in daily, or talk to your manager via phone to be put on medical ASAP.

Good Luck Hon! My suggestion if you are terminated Fight It for the $$$$. Get that paperwork ASAP. All my support from WDW :love2:

[CerasiJ]

I'm with everyone else in this thread, girl, go out and hire a damned good lawyer. (I work for lawyers, business/labor law lawyers, small world, eh???) So that would be my advice. Make sure you write everything down! Dates, names, times, places, details matter!!! Good luck!

[SRT_GB]

In addition to what everyone else said, contact HRIC for a copy of your verbal and written warnings for attendance. Even though you didn't request a copy when you were disciplined, you are allowed under company policy to get copies of pretty much anything that's in your personnel file from HR.

Best wishes to you!

[Felix the Cat]

I thought Managers were supposed to give you your discipline not later than 30 days after your infringment. If they don't, then you can refuse it after they give it to you. You should talk to the Union about this.