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Hello everyone. This forum seems to have many knowledgeable people so, I really hope I can find some insight on how I should proceed with my recent termination on 4/11/14.
The Broadstrokes:
I had been with this company for 14.5 months. There were apprx. 25 employees. We were contractors taking over 2 depts. for a huge corporation on a new 5yr contractual basis. I came from an extensive background in this "dept", everyone else had 0 experience in this dept.
Myself & another person were the only white employees. There was another white employee but, he had just been let go right before I was hired. He was released due to some controversy over a workers comp claim. Everyone else was black & latino. All of Mgmt were black. The other white employee had a family member that has worked for this corporation for 33 years & thats how he got this job. He had zero experience in this line of work.
Our dept. consisted of 8 employees & a manager. I was the only white person in this dept. Myself, 4 blacks, 3 latinos & a black manager. Everyone but myself had already been with this company for some time. They were all assembled together for this contract. None of which had any experience in this line of work besides myself. I had 13 years of experience.
From the get go, this manager had developed sides with his favorites. It was a very unprofessional/ghetto environment. It seemed like the more ghetto slang you spoke & the lazier you were, the more he liked you. Also, the more you kissed his ***, the more of a favorite you became. 1 of the employees was a black female. She instantly became his favorite & over time, a relationship among the 2 had developed outside of work & due to that, he made it known that she was to be "queen bee" of this entire dept. This manager also had zero experience in this dept but, he was very close with the general manager, whom was also black. It was a common known fact that this company had another candidate for this manager position, with 23 years of experience but, the general manager opted for his buddy with zero experience.
After all the initial schooling & training for this job, we were paired up in doubles ( partners ). It was you & your partner, alone, working together 12 hours a day, 5 days a week. As it turns out, my partner's brother in law was the head of human resources for this company. He had zero experience in this line of work as well but, as fate would oddly have it, it was determined by the manager that my partner was to be in charge on our shifts together. My partner was latino. Also, it should be said now that, partners were equally responsible & equally accountable for everything on their shifts ( with prevelance landing on my partner because he was technically in charge) Their was much paperwork & computer work on this job & dual signatures were mandatory on absolutely everything we did. Every aspect of this job was chronicled & documented.
Now, over the course of a year on this job, naturally, people made mistakes. Everyone of us made mistakes. Some were small mistakes & some were absolutely crucial & costly. Generally, if you made a crucial mistake, you were written up by the manager. Nevertheless, everyone had some paper in their file. In my time there, I was written up once in the training period for a mere mental mistake ( for which I was handed down a 3 day suspension) & once again ( along with my partner) for communicating with a corporation employee about concerns over aspects of the job getting done safely & properly. ( No, im not making this up) The manager had very strong notions of keeping everything "in house" therefore he wouldnt have to worry about looking like such an unskilled idiot to the corporation we were working for.
Back to the mistakes for a bit. Their were other employees whom made mistakes that were absolutely crucial & costly mistakes & while the mistakes were documented, there was never any disciplinary action taken on these individuals. Ever. Everything was always swept under the rug & eventually just became a vanished issue. These occurances by the other employees were quite frequent & as I stated before, no disciplinary action was ever taken against any of them. These mistakes by other employees had gotten so severe & frequent that said employees were actually made to give witness statements to corporation mgmt, as to start a paper trail on them. Naturally, my company turned a blind eye to all of it. The General manager was protecting his friend, the manager & the mamager was protecting his favorite employees. As I stated earlier, these events went on for an entire year w/ zero reprocussions. Earlier in my post, I had mentioned that we had 1 other white employee. 2 weeks prior to my firing, he destroyed a piece of equipment that cost 10000$ & was never handed down any disciplinary action at all. Nothing.
After a year on this job, everything became so ***backwards on this job, that it was nearly beyond belief.
You had certain employees who simply just refused to do certain aspects of their job because they "just didnt feel comfortable" doing it & the manager did nothing about it. He would simply just lay the work on the people who would do it. Now mind you, we were ALL certified to do every aspect of this job, but, he would just turn a blind eye to these situations & compensate for his favorites & as always, you didnt dare speak up on it because you would have most likely been written up for insuboardination. It was just absolutely crazy.
2 months ago, my partner & I made a pretty costly mistake but, we were following the mandated corporate procedures & therefore we were all written a warning about the incident, delivered via email & we heard nothing elese about the issue for 6 weeks. Nothing. Zero.
My partner & I worked on 4/8/14 & it was the last shift on our rotation. We were called via phone by our manager early in the shift & he told us that we had to attend a safety meeting, in 24 hours, regarding the incident from 2 months ago ( which is very uncanny & very unprotocol). We both showed up for this meeting 24 hours later on our day off & at this meeting, along with us, was the manager, general manager, safety coordinator & regional manager.
At this meeting, we discussed how this happened & how we could prevent this happening again etc. Now, mind you, my partner & I are both in this meeting because A, hes in charge & B, we are both jointly responsible & accountable for everything that happens on our shift. So, the meeting wraps up & they then announce to me that, I need to stay over because they want to speak to me. My partner & the safety coordinator leave the room. The onslaught on me begins. They begin to blame me for everything. Everything that was just said in the meeting, every bit of protocol on all procedures/responsibility/accountability amongst work partners just went straight out the window. They then start with the accusations of "the corporation no longer feels comfortable with my work ability" "the corporation feels that Im no longer able to do my job correctly & effectively" " the manager sees everyone else growing at their jobs & Im falling behind" etc etc. I was absolutely STUNNED by what I was hearing. My jaw almost hit the floor. I could not physically believe what I was hearing. I was in a state of shock.
It was then determined that they were going to suspend JUST me but, I was off for the next 3 days anyhow so, they said they would just be in touch with me after they figured what they wanted to do with me. 36 hours later I was summoned to another meeting with the same group of managers. I arrive to the meeting & was told to wait outside because they werent ready for me yet. As Im waiting outside I see the safety coordinator pull in & he walks to the office where the managers are. 5/10 minutes go by & Im called to the office. I walk into the office & see only the 3 managers there. Im not sure if they made the safety coordinator sit in the bathroom or what. I go to sit down at a table & the general manager wants me to be seated directly in front of his desk. ( I suspect now that they were videotaping me) The general manager tells me that they have decided & feel that we should just part ways & he wishes me the best in the future. Thats it. No reason, no NOTHING. They had already packed up my belongings from my locker & put them in a box by the door. I said I understood & that was it. It was over & done in an about 60 seconds. I got up, shook everyones hand, grabbed my box & left.
Ive already filed for CA Edd & am waiting for my phone interview.
My ? for all of you is, do I / should I contact a lawyer? In all sincerity, I have never been so humiliated in my entire life. I have never in my life encountered such an assinine/insane situation at a workplace. I had a job that I loved & cared about immensely & in 1 blink...Its gone forever, over what??? I made a damn good living & it was all robbed from me over madness that I cant even begin to possibly justify.
Any insight would be sincerely appreciated. Thank You.
I only care about UI stuff. If you want to get an attorney for some other reason, do it now. He may even suggest you FAIL at your phone interview. UI hearings are a cheap way of doing discovery. The witnesses are under oath, and while estoppel rarely applies, the information obtained can turn something that looks like a fishing expedition into something with merit.
Lord I never would have shaken their hands!! Brood of vipers...and that might be an insult to vipers.
I'm white, female and have been in many jobs where I was a minority in one way or another. There are professionals of all colors and bozos of all colors (and genders). All the ghetto talk and laziness would have run me off the first week. yuck
I'm a minority and those types if situations working conditions always upset me. The favoritism, the one sidedness, managers sleeping with employees, etc. it really robs an organization of integrity and respect. I'd get a lawyer ASAP and go for the jugular.
two things i always think about..never work somewhere with incompetent people. and never work in a small family run business..you will be the first to go when financial problems arise no matter how good an employee you are
I only care about UI stuff. If you want to get an attorney for some other reason, do it now. He may even suggest you FAIL at your phone interview. UI hearings are a cheap way of doing discovery. The witnesses are under oath, and while estoppel rarely applies, the information obtained can turn something that looks like a fishing expedition into something with merit.
I can't afford to "fail" the phone interview. I have bills & mouths to feed. This whole situation has really put me in a financial pickle.
two things i always think about..never work somewhere with incompetent people. and never work in a small family run business..you will be the first to go when financial problems arise no matter how good an employee you are
While I understand your sentiments, this was a 80k a year job in Los Angeles & a job like that is very hard to come by out here. Even though it was an absolutely horrid work environment, I just had to suffer in silence. This was no small family business. This company I worked for is global. Their a very huge company.
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