Lawsuits against FedEx keep piling up...

snackdad

Well-Known Member
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/candce/3:2011cv04105/244386/

http://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/candce/3:2011cv04039/244192/

http://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/candce/3:2011cv04032/244185/

http://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/candce/3:2011cv01921/239719/

The first three suits were all filed with a one week period. All filed for Employment Discrimination which broadly covers many reasons including Whistleblower Retaliation. These suits are all filed is one district court in one part of Northern California. If it is indicative of what is going on in the United States than there must be thousands of new lawsuits against FedEx maybe more. No wonder, considering the way they treat people in their bid to get rid of the older topped out work force, cut benefits and hours and generally keep everyone in a state of fear about losing their jobs. How is that PSP working Fred?
Safety means nothing now. In my station there is an investigation over turn over rate and our station is a "focus" station because accidents and injuries are through the roof. Management turns a blind eye everyday to people working through unpaid lunch breaks. Mention safety and you will be targeted. Maybe a warning OLCC about your sock color or supply levels in your truck. Go against them and its a warning letter next.
My advice, save every piece of paper, take photos of physical risks in the station, look for and keep hand written cheat sheets of airbill numbers, keep a journal and never ever sign anything. You may need these things one day.
 

Lucho Kaiser

Active Member
I personally know of 3 different employees who have filed EEOC complaints in our region based upon the sph goals. How can one be forced to adhere to sph goals that are based widely on a flawed statistic with far too many lurking variables day to day to be to be accurate or credible. Then to hold the employee accountable for things far out of the drivers control, but still must meet those "goals". You'll eventually be fired for being safe but slow or give some customer service. "Id love to answer your questions mam, but my sph will drop and ill lose my job" Im forced to give the customers less and less time. There isnt a time card code for this, or one atleast our station allows. Option two, stay above sph but reckless/unsafe and eventually accident your way into the unemployment line. Were damned if we do, damned if we dont.... Very conveneient business plan... It basically leaves it up to management discretion which are just puppets for memphis We all know if management likes you, sph can be lowered till you look good, or raised until your not fit anymore. The sad part is, management doesnt like a hard working dedicated employee, they ask too many questions, but the people who never say much with a goal of status quo in life seem to thrive...it used to be ideas/beneficial imput was welcomed, now they are olcc/lettered out for caring too much. For every one who posts, their are hundreds more who dont post. Memh is delusional if the they dont think the majority or us are disgusted and losing morale quickly. Fedex is only able to do this because of the economy and uncertainty about finding another job, many people have families think about and use they know it.
 

Ghostwriter

Well-Known Member
thatGreat post Lucho Kaiser! Being that there are 100 people waiting in line to replace any one of us, I feel confident that good will win the day! OK, so any employee fired, tenders a resignation, and or "relieved" of duty" FedEx has to invest the time and training on a new employee. This "new" employee might stay 5 years, 5 months, or only 5 days. I think eventually under the current "treatment" of the couriers all the talent at FedEx will go else where. This is not a good strategy to operate a business on a competitive basis. The revolving door and less starting wages looks good on a simple "spread sheet" but will cost dearly in the long run. Even in many simple comparisons, the evidence of talent and experience always is the most valuable tool in any business structure. Would you purchase brake shoes for your family's car because they are cheaper? Perhaps would you purchase the brakes from a company new to making the brake shoes? In conclusion; new and cheap does not equal safety, customer service, or profit...
 

Lucho Kaiser

Active Member
The only draw back is fred will probably just cut our benefits/pay, hire less and work us more to keep it going, you'll see more and more regions with draft/force lists coming about. Like he has done in the past, he'll take from us frontline employees pay for what he calls "the cost of doing business"
 

UnconTROLLed

perfection
A fundamental problem - these corporations cannot afford tax hikes or ending of special loopholes, but they surely can spend millions upon millions fighting these lawsuits in the courts. "Something has got to give".
 

Cactus

Just telling it like it is
A fundamental problem - these corporations cannot afford tax hikes or ending of special loopholes, but they surely can spend millions upon millions fighting these lawsuits in the courts. "Something has got to give".

Excellent observation.

They also want employees to believe that FedEx is barely getting by but yet the cost dragging out these lawsuits for years?

Many of these lawsuits could have and should have been avoided in the first place.
 

snackdad

Well-Known Member
A few years back I was talking to an attorney I know. He had read a statement released to the media by FedEx that claimed their stock was in a good position and poised to go higher. There were some lines in the release that addressed current litigation (mostly involving Ground) against FedEx and how much it was costing the company. FedEx said it was under control because they had just hired a large number of attorneys.
I love the back wards thinking. Same as it ever was. I have always felt that FedEx acts reactively rather than proactively. They are spread so thin on such a tight budget everywhere that the problems they face later on could have been prevented with a little investment and care in the right time.
Now that they are equally treating everyone in the company like crap I expect the rise of new lawsuits against FedEx to rise exponentially. You reap what you sow. Could many, if not the majority of these lawsuits been prevented by actually following the real PSP philosophy? I am absolutely positively sure about that. How are those plans working out Fred? Sleep well at night in your DC-10 pajamas?


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Cactus

Just telling it like it is
A few years back I was talking to an attorney I know. He had read a statement released to the media by FedEx that claimed their stock was in a good position and poised to go higher. There were some lines in the release that addressed current litigation (mostly involving Ground) against FedEx and how much it was costing the company. FedEx said it was under control because they had just hired a large number of attorneys.
I love the back wards thinking. Same as it ever was. I have always felt that FedEx acts reactively rather than proactively. They are spread so thin on such a tight budget everywhere that the problems they face later on could have been prevented with a little investment and care in the right time.
Now that they are equally treating everyone in the company like crap I expect the rise of new lawsuits against FedEx to rise exponentially. You reap what you sow. Could many, if not the majority of these lawsuits been prevented by actually following the real PSP philosophy? I am absolutely positively sure about that. How are those plans working out Fred? Sleep well at night in your DC-10 pajamas?

Well said.

Sounds like more dribble coming from Maury's mouth and hiring a large number of attorneys don't come cheap either. Talk about costing the company.

Fred's obviously not familiar with the old saying, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Let alone subscribe to it.
 

Lucho Kaiser

Active Member
Has anyone seen the law division headquarters for fedex in california? Ive been told by people who have been that we spent millions building and filling it. Was built In response to the increasing lawsuits in early 2000 I thought and most originate in the state. I cannot confirm this but anyone else heard this? Ive been told this by numerous 4 digit and 5 digit emp #'s over the years, but it could just be them talking.
 

MrFedEx

Engorged Member
Has anyone seen the law division headquarters for fedex in california? Ive been told by people who have been that we spent millions building and filling it. Was built In response to the increasing lawsuits in early 2000 I thought and most originate in the state. I cannot confirm this but anyone else heard this? Ive been told this by numerous 4 digit and 5 digit emp #'s over the years, but it could just be them talking.

I've never heard of one, but it certainly could exist. After the $51M Black/Latino management discrimination settlement a few years back, FedEx began publishing The Diversity Appeal, which "proved" they weren't racist. They also hired a pile of new attorneys.
 

snackdad

Well-Known Member
It does exist, it's huge and I have been there. I have been inside the Golden Tower. Here is the address and some of the "Super Lawyers" who work there are listed as well.

I was there about 5 years ago to do one of those high level meetings between Glen Corbin and couriers from all over the Western division. We all flew in from various parts of the west coast for this 4 hour meeting. The extremely generous breakfast of Otis Spunkmeyer muffins and the plastic wrapped deli sandwiches for lunch made us feel very important and cared for. No rides were provided at the airport and we were given 10.00 allowance for taxi fare. Just don't forget to get receipts for everything and if you get back before 6PM maybe you can do the shuttle to the ramp. Some people came from as far away as Seattle, Portland, etc.
The meeting really was one great big giant bitch fest. Everyone was saying the same things about OLCC's, retaliation, poor pay, long top out, swing driver pay, safety concerns, and general harassment daily by management. The same stuff as today, the same stuff as 5, 10, 15 years ago. Why can't this company just recognize the quality of most of the people it has and just trust us and let us do our job the safest and fastest we can.
This meeting was just a show to parade around that the company really cares and listens to people at every level. The place is full of lawyers now and I hope they are keeping very very busy. There are job ads for FedEx wanting to hire more attorneys. Maybe some of them are good drivers and can make a few deliveries on their lunch break. God knows all the couriers do.
 

Lucho Kaiser

Active Member
Very insightful snackdad, I figured their had to be truth to what I heard. I worked with several employees who said they got several thousand dollars of it, they didn even know about the lawsuit until a check was cut. Something to do with the old courier written pre-test being racially/culturally biased?
 

snackdad

Well-Known Member
GFTP/EEO investigations are handled "in house" by FedEx. There is some kind of investigation done that is about as fair and impartial as any GFT proceeding. These things never make it to an outside government agency unless termination, attorneys and lawsuits are involved. I filed two EEO complaints within a 3 month period against the same manager for bullying me and intimidation and retaliation against me for speaking up about injustices and unsafe work practices.
The first EEO filed got this response in a letter overnighted to me from the managing director of my district.
"Thank you for using our internal EEO complaint process relating to your claim of alleged
discrimination and/or harassment.
Your claim has been thoroughly investigated.
Our investigation did identify some practices
that may be inconsistent
with our policies,
culture and philosophy. Appropriate recommendations
were made for your management
team to implement
to address
these
practices.
Your complaint
was treated
confidentially
to the extent
possible
while still allowing us to
conduct a full investigation. The identity of witnesses
and information gathered
is
confidential
to encourage
employees
to come
forward with issues,
aird at the same
time
alleviate
any concems
they may have of retaliation. Likewise we discipline employees
confidentially. Therefore, no additional information will be provided regarding this
investigation
and the resulting
actions.
We appreciate
you taking the time to bring these
matters
to our attention as FedEx takes all
complaints seriously. I want to remind you that it is againsf
FedEx policy for you to be
retaliated against
for filing your complaint. Should you believe that you are being retaliated
against,
or should you have any other concerns,
please
report them immediately to a member
of management,
your human resources
representative,
or Human Resources
Compliance."
Three months later when I had to initiate another EEO complaint against the same manager for retaliating against me for the first EEO I got this response from the managing director of my district.
"Thank you for using our internal EEO complaint process
relating to your claim of alleged
discrimination and/or harassment.
Your claim has been thoroughly investigated.
Our investigation did identify some practices
that may be inconsistent
with our policies,
culture and philosophy. Appropriate recommendations
were made for your management
team to implement
to address
these
practices.
Your complaint
was treated
confidentially
to the extent
possible
while still allowing us to
conduct a full investigation. The identity of witnesses
and information gathered
is
confidential
to encourage
employees
to come
forward with issues,
aird at the same
time
alleviate
any concems
they may have of retaliation. Likewise we discipline employees
confidentially. Therefore, no additional information will be provided regarding this
investigation
and the resulting
actions.
We appreciate
you taking the time to bring these
matters
to our attention as FedEx takes all
complaints seriously. I want to remind you that it is againsf
FedEx policy for you to be
retaliated against
for filing your complaint. Should you believe that you are being retaliated
against,
or should you have any other concerns,
please
report them immediately to a member
of management,
your human resources
representative,
or Human Resources
Compliance. "

The only thing that was done to differentiate between the two events was to change the dates on the response letter. It was the exact same canned wording on the exact same letter. Really was anything ever done in an honest attempt to shield me from retaliation by this manager? Were my allegations of safety violations ever investigated? Or did FedEx focus on what they wanted to see and morph it into a situation that puts the very least blame and culpability on the manager and corporation. Frontline employees, the ones who actually get the job done always take a backseat to management and the company. We are all just numbers at FedEx.
 

Cactus

Just telling it like it is
Those HR people (you know, the one's that always stick up for the management) get paid at least 65K a year to send out Xerox letters?

I don't trust any of them.
 
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