One time I felt unfairness at the work place was...
When I worked at the same company as my husband (now ex-husband). We had moved to another town because he had gotten promoted to store manager and they transferred me to the same store. Since we were married and he was the boss then we had decided that if I had any questions or needed help with something that I would go to the Assistant Manager and she would take care of it. That wasn’t a problem at all, it worked out great. Move along a few years and the corporate guys came for a visit. They wanted to talk to me, which was kinda unusual. I went in the office and sat down and they start telling me about a different store that has a husband and wife that work together and one is the manager. Long story short, they ended up being crooked and stealing stuff so they had decided that from now on that the manager of a store couldn’t have their immediate family work under them. I explained that I had always gone to the Assistant Manager for all my questions and or problems I had. They then proceeded to tell me since this was the only other store where spouses worked under the other that they were going to let me go. They would pay me my 2 weeks vacation and my personal and sick days and they wouldn’t fight my unemployment if I filed, which of course I did. I got to thinking that there should be a grandfather clause, and I should be under that clause because this new rule started 5 years after I started working there. So now that my husband and I are divorced and I have found out other things about him and things he’s done to deliberately try to get me into trouble. Was it really corporates idea to let me go or had my husband beydoing something to make me look bad and I just didn’t know it? He got fired from that same company just 8 months after they let me go and he told me a different story than I heard from another manager at the first store we worked at together. I’m not really sure what really happened with me being let go, but I feel if the story they told me was true then I should have been protected underneath the grandfather clause. Don’t you?
Yes u should contact the better business bureau
Let It GO! But now that your ex-husband no longer works there. Go back and reapply. Based on the fact they did not fight the unemployment they realized the entire issue was more of their making and not yours. You did no wrong, but you were let go due to company policy. They technically owe you nothing. But in this instance, they may very well be willing to rehire you. If you had a clean slate at the company. Never say anything bad about your ex, or other employees from before that will only come back to haunt you not them.
You say that there should be a grandfather clause... Is there one in the company records? Do you have enough evidence to repair your good name before this company. I'm not talking rehire, but enough to remove any negative marks that your ex-husband planted in your record, including guilt-by-association. As it is, you've probably moved on, so why return to retail?
Most of employments are at will... nothing we can do.
Angela Trent Grandfather clause? Missouri is an employment-at-will state, meaning that an employer can terminate an employee at any time for any legal reason. I am sorry you have gone through so much!
Hi Angela Trent - it sounds as though you had a system worked out at work that seemed to be okay and not place your (ex) husband in charge of you. It's hard to say what is or not true, as none of us were there, but if the story they told you was true than I do not think you would be protected under any clause unless it was specifically stated in your employment contract or in their policy.
At the end of the day, the company and corporate is going to do what is best of the good of the company, and they felt that due to a previous risk, they could not have a husband and wife working with another.
I'm sorry this happened, but they way you wrote it made it seem like it happened awhile ago. What are you doing now? Are you working at a new job?
There would not appear to be a "Grandfather Clause" since from what I am gathering, there was a change in company policy in how they dealt with husbands and wives working in the same store together. All States, except, Montana, are "Employment At Will" and employers can let go of employees for any reason. I can site an example of a husband and wife working together on a Not for Profit Executive board, and given the vote was always 2 for and 5 or 6 against or the other way around, very little got done, and this special interest group does not allow spouses to serve on the same board for that reason. Plus, the husband in this particular situation was a bit of a crook and lawsuits and countersuits were filed left and right, and thus was the reason why this policy was put in place.
It appears you had a great system in place, and since corporate did offer you a suitable store transfer, that probably should have been entertained, unless that idea created hardships for you where that other store was a much more difficult commute or less sales revenues were prevalent in that store.
Regardless, just chalk it up to a lesson learned, Angela, and hope you have moved on to a much more rewarding career and job.