Idaho Labor Laws? (closing, law, shop)

[mpsgirl]

I'm a native Idahoan but to be honest, I'm not overly familiar with Idaho labor laws, at least in depth. I know that Idaho is a right-to-work state, and an employer can basically fire an employee just for looking at them crosseyed, but I'm wondering if there is any protection for employees at all in the state.

Here's my situation. My son was working at a local shop and has been there for a few months now. He called in sick tonight after leaving the manager a note last night to tell him that he wasn't feeling well when leaving work and might not be in today. My son did call one of the young girls he works with and she said she could cover his shift and if for any reason she couldn't, she'd call him back. At 1pm today my son called in to let his workplace know he wouldn't be in because he was very ill. (He works in the food industry and there are sanitary issues which is why he didn't want to go in feeling like he did, and I felt it was justified). (Mind you, I try not to get too involved in his jobs because I want him to learn to be responsible on his own for things like this, but I do monitor from afar what is going on).

The coworker that said she would cover his shift never called him back so he assumed that she would be in working for him today. At about 2pm his boss (and owner of the store) called and left a voicemail while my son was asleep. His voicemail said "So you think it's f***ing funny that you call in sick and just think that's ok! I'm sick of dealing with you so don't f***ing come back! You're fired!"

I hate to say it, but I suppose I'm not terribly surprised that the owner handled it this way. He is around 23 and hasn't ever really acted in a professional manner. When they failed to pay my son one pay period, my son went in and asked about how he could get his check asap because he needed it and the owner's daughter (who also works there) told him that her mom had it and she wouldn't be back into town until Monday (it was a Friday). I personally went in and asked for it 3 different times. He didn't even get his check until Tuesday after he was supposed to have been paid that previous Friday. The owner's wife claims she accidentally picked it up with forms that went to the bank and it got lost in her car or some excuse like that. Even when I got involved, they made little effort to expedite the process of finding it for my son. They have a track record of not being available for employees when needed. Other employees have told me personally that he doesn't return calls or messages for days or weeks at a time and will even avoid coming into the store when he knows there is something pressing that needs to be dealt with.

Nonetheless, I found the language on the phone very inappropriate. I called the store tonight and asked if the owner was there so I could return the store key my son had and we were told no, so my husband and I just went down anyhow, only to find out that the owner was actually there. We returned the key and got a written receipt for it because we don't want something to mysteriously happen overnight while the store is closed and then have them come back and accuse my son of breaking into the store since he was the only one with a key that no longer worked there.

When we asked why my son was fired he was very snide and said only "poor performance." My husband commented to him "well, the message you left on my son's phone was very unprofessional don't you believe?" and at that point he told us to get out of his store. As we walked out I told him that he would get my son's uniform back on Friday ONLY AFTER we received check in hand for the hours actually worked.

That said, is there any ramifications for a business that acts in such a manner to their employees? I know there are always two sides to a story, but I do know my son well. He's a generally quiet kid and he's always come in and worked extra hours for them whenever other employees didn't bother to show up (it's a lot of teenagers that work there), volunteered for closing shifts because no one else wanted to do them. I know my son's not perfect, but I did watch him do his job on many occasions and even heard the managers constantly praise him, so being told that he had "poor performance" is a bit of a shock. He never caused any trouble, was never late for work, never left early and rarely took breaks (even though Idaho law doesn't require that they're given breaks). I really just wonder if there is anything we can do in this case.

Sorry this was so very long winded, but I wanted to try to give as much detail as possible because I'm hoping there might be something for my son to fall back on. Thanks for any advice in advance.

[eastidahomom]

If he owns the business, good luck. Unfortunately for employees, Idaho favors the employer. They will veer the side of caution to the employer in most all cases whenever there is a doubt. If this owner has a history of this type of behavior with other employees who are willing to testify as well, you may want to consider a class action suit, or similar suit. Otherwise, be glad you and your son are done with it.

[Sage of Sagle]

Here's my take...

Even if your son worked a non-union job in California, he has no recourse. All the owner would have to do is maybe document it better. And if he worked a union job, and the owner documented something about poor performance, most unions would give only nominal support IMO. Yeah, it would violate their MOU with the union, but unless it was politically expedient for the union to "take up the cross" on this issue, your son would probably still have lost his job, since this case wouldn't have had enough exposure or witnesses for it to get very far.

There are plenty of jerks in the world, some are bosses. Being a boss (having "power") is like drinking alcohol...it just intensifies what you already are...so small-minded people get worse.

It's my view that your son's only failure (from a documentation perspective, mind you) is relying on a coworker without something written. When trading shifts in my former line of work, it went on a memo or it wasn't valid, so if the other person no-showed, you didn't take the hit for it.

But it sounds like your son is much better off NOT working for this wretched family...so maybe it's a blessing in disguise...

[eastidahomom]

Sage is right.
I know of a business here in town which shall remain nameless, who regularly calls their employees the "f" word. In fact, every other word is f-this and f-that and f-you. The offenders are the owner of the company and his GM. They have gone through some 250 employees in just the last few years. People can't tolerate it for long. Employees regularly have their jobs threatened and most either get fed up and walk out the door or get fired. Not a single employee has filed with the Department of Labor because not a single employee, believes they would win.