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Anonymous
Do I have grounds to sue for wrongful termination? 2016-02-06 03:48:27 Post No. 16773759
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Do I have grounds to sue for wrongful termination? 2016-02-06 03:48:27 Post No. 16773759
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Do I have grounds to sue for wrongful termination?
Anonymous
2016-02-06 03:48:27
Post No. 16773759
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Hey /adv/
So I got fired today over a poptart.
Yes I know this sounds ridiculous
But hear me out....
So I worked at a factory in Texas that makes excavator and loader buckets, some of these things are fucking gigantic... like 40-50 tons. Anways there's three parts of the factory, one is a loader shop conjoined with an excavator shop, and then there's a small machine shop in a separate building. (On the opposite side of the loader shop)
I mainly spend most of my time in the Loader shop, but a couple days ago there was an occassion where I needed to work in the machine shop on the other side of the building.
I'm a type 1 diabetic and I had left my glucose tablets at the loader shop that day, and I also stayed a couple hours late and was completely unsupervised (Nobody was around to see or hear me if anything were to happen) while working in the machine shop.
At about 4:10 I went into a locker; the locker was standalone and full of tools, and it was unlocked, I had assumed it was a tool crib and not someone's personal locker, so I went in and grabbed the pliers. I noticed a poptart was in the locker, but I ignored it. Then at about 4:20 my bloodsugar dropped extremely low; I was on the verge of having a diabetic seizure, so my first instinct was to go to the locker and grab that poptart and eat it.
Being the person I am, I naturally felt guilty so I left a note "I ate your poptart, I'm sorry, I had a diabetic emergency, I will pay you back"
The next morning I was sent back into that machine shop, the other machinist there immediately started charging me up for going into his locker and invading his personal privacy. This 60 year old man ratted me out to the entire staff and I was sent home that day, before going home I went to walmart and bought a 16 pack of poptarts and brought it back to the machine shop to make up for it.
Well the next day (Today) I was told at the end of my shift that I was being let go for stealing food.
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cont.
Note that I had no knowlege or signed any contract acknowleging a zero tolerance policy for food theft. And Y'all can harp on me about being unprepared as a diabetic, but essentially I was terminated for taking immediate action to resolve a life threatening medical issue. Is this worth consulting with a lawyer about; given that I recieved no copy of the employer handbook, signed no zero tolerance policy contract, paid the man back, and owed up to being the one who took the snack? There has to be some type of rights that have been violated for me essentially choosing to not have a seizure in a shop, all by myself (especially since they were fully aware of my medical condition) over someone's food...? Should I be fired for chosing to save my own life?
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Tough to say, but you should talk to a lawyer and a doctor about it. If the doc can sign off on the assertion that you'd have died if you hadn't taken the pop-tart, and your employers knew you had diabetes, you might have a case. Or you might not; I'm no lawyer. But you should ask one.
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Texas is an at-will employment state, which almost certainly means you're fucked.
Go call a lawyer or two and tell them your story (wont cost you anything), but I'm pretty sure you're fucked. Medical emergency, doesn't matter - employers couldn't give less of shit if you dropped dead. Labor has zero power in this country since unions are more or less non-existent.
Just be glad they didn't go to the police and you're not getting charged with theft and thrown in jail (since it wasn't company property lol)
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Depends what state you're in. At will employers can fire you for pretty much anything. I'd consult an attorney.
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