My girlfriend called me this evening rather upset about the fact that she was just fired from her job at a sandwich place. The reason? She lives to far away and its just not working out… Everybody is going back to school, therefore everybody wants to close. So instead of redistributing hours, her manager fired her and gave her hours to less experienced, high school kids he hired recently.
This makes absolutely no sense. She worked her ass off there, often staying late to make sure the place was spotless before she went home. Two weeks earlier her manager had told her she was his ‘best closer’.
The issue isn’t a matter of availability- the entire staff there are students, and everybody has more or less the same schedule. She didn’t make waves, complain excessively, or take excess days off. She worked there six days a week through the summer while going to summer school.
The phone conversation was a rather heated exchange in which I was trying to figure out how this could happen. She is available on weekends, but they didn’t cut her hours back, they canned her. She’s worked there longer than anybody else in the place, and has the most work experience. When I asked her who in the hell is going to cover mornings, since everybody is unavailable till 3, she said she didn’t know, since the manager also fired the only employee available to open the store!
All I can think of, in the harsh reality of retail and food service jobs, is that the manager was a control freak and wanted a staff of high school thralls, people too timid/naive/inexperienced to stand up for themselves, rather than somebody who tries to do the job right, and might unwittingly make the manager feel dumb/incompetent/insecure/etc.
His loss, it seems to me. She sounds like she’ll do well anywhere she works, so she will probably get a better job out of this anyway. Lemons->lemonade and all that. Lotsa luck to you both.
This sort of stuck out to me - when she called you to tell you what happened, she probably wasn’t looking for an in-depth analysis - she was probably looking for sympathy and commiseration and someone to say, “Those bastards! You didn’t deserve that!” and someone to tell her it was going to be okay. Save the post-mortem and figuring stuff out for a bit later, when she’s not still in shock.
(I’m still getting this message across to my husband - I know he sympathizes and commiserates, but he tends to be all common sense and logical when I want him to just be on my side.)
Assuming your GF is telling you the whole truth, she should lodge a complaint with your state’s employment commission (or equivalent) - in general, you have to have a reason to fire someone, and “so-and-so lives closer to the store” wouldn’t qualify. At the very least, she might be able to qualify for unemployment benefits.
Not in California you don’t. At Will Employment. However, you might be right about unemployment. Make sure she applies ASAP, as you can’t get paid until you apply.
If it actually was over 10 cents and hour (which I doubt), then at 30 hours/week, that’s only $3.00 a week more, and with payroll and WC taxes, closer to $4.00/week.
As a business owner myself, to lose a “best closer” at $4.00 per week makes absolutely no sense to me…Hell, if that much money was actually at stake on whether you keep someone or fire someone, I would have paid that $4.00 myself. If the shop was actually making decisions based on saving nickels and dimes, then it might be on the brink of closing for good.
There’s absolutely more to it than that. Incubus, about the distance factor…what was the distance from her house/college to the sandwich shop? Did it take over a half hour to get there whereas another student was available sooner? That seems a little goofy too, but the manager might have had scheduling issues and he took a drastic (poor) measure to correct.
In California, the unemployment benefits will definitely be awarded IF that is the actual sole reason the employer (manager) gave.
That may be true as well…but I wouldn’t stop at just that conclusion. Many other factors may be at play here.
And as one guy to another guy, I’m always guilty of trying to analyze, fix and prevent situations instead of just sitting there and sympathizing. But then my solutions tend to keep people from falling into the same dilemma the next time, so we wouldn’t have to sympathize a second time over the same situation. Gals, cut some of us some slack, will ya?
Not true. In the state of Washington, an employer can fire fire you at any time for non-discriminating reason. So they can fire you for living too far away, having a bad tattoo, or insisting everyone calls you “Spanky Fly Fresh” - but not for being white, black, or any color in between.
Yes, it’s much more correct to say you can be fired for any reason at any time as long as the reason is not illegally discriminatory (race, sex, disability, religion, national origin, age (over 40 nationally, sometimes state law has additiional restrictions)).
One other option is for her to provide a written complaint to the next level up. If the manager owns the shop there’s probably not much hope, but if it is part of a group of shops owned by a larger entity, the next level may provide some help, especially if there is a dicrimnatory reason in there somewhere.
Yes, it’s much more correct to say you can be fired for any reason at any time as long as the reason is not illegally discriminatory (race, sex, disability, religion, national origin, age (over 40 nationally, sometimes state law has additiional restrictions)).
One other option is for her to provide a written complaint to the next level up. If the manager owns the shop there’s probably not much hope, but if it is part of a group of shops owned by a larger entity, the next level may provide some help, especially if there is a discriminatory reason in there somewhere.
You both should think of it as a godsend. Working in a retail food establishment just plain sucks unless you really like your job for some reason. It’s very hard work, you have to smile at the rudest customers, and the pay is usually dismal. Of course, I base all of this on my experience as a closer for a sub chain. After busting my ass almost a year there for just cents above minimum wage, I quit and now have a job I love making twice as much. Did she like her job there? If so, I’m sorry, but there are much better jobs waiting for her.
Everybody is going back to school, therefore everybody wants to close. So instead of redistributing hours, her manager fired her and gave her hours to less experienced, high school kids he hired recently.