tracker2762
Well-Known Member
You cannot possibly know that it is the norm, just as I cannot possibly know that it isn't. Neither of us have a large enough sample size. As I said, I've been hurt, on a couple of occasions actually, and that's not been my experience.
As for the 90 days, consider this. Our government (which certainly isn't the standard to judge by but it's what we have) enacted a law in 1993 giving many employees 84 days of job protection. FedEx has had 90 days of protection for as long as I can remember. Often those 90 days turn into more than that because unless you know that someone is just not coming back, you cannot replace them until after 90 days. There's a minimum of 4 days lead time to post a position. The position is posted for a week and then there's another 30 days at least before the successful employee starts the new job. That's assuming an internal posting. So it's about another 41 days minimum. If the person on leave is expected back after say 100, 110, 120, even 150 days, there's not much point in hiring someone else. I have seen this happen on a number of occasions. Unlike you I am not going to claim it is the norm but it does make sense from both the employee's and FedEx's perspective.
The flip side of this is an employee who is out and there isn't a timeline for their return. At some point you may have to replace them. You cannot simply keep covering their job which for the sake of discussion is most likely a courier position. So when do you draw the line? Another thing to consider is if a station has less volume than the year before, which many have had the last couple of years, routes get cut. Do you tell someone who is ready, willing, able, and at work, sorry your route is cut and we don't have anything for you? Do you tell them this while they are asking about the route that's open because someone is out on disability and has been for four months with no return in sight. Is that the way to treat someone? There are always going to be decisions made and trade-offs happening that positively impact one employee while negatively impacting another. As long as the positives happen more often than the negatives, at least you are on the right track. Obviously if you are the one negatively impacted you would disagree but that doesn't make it the wrong decision. The flip side of this example is a station that has either gained volume or had some employees leave. As the station is most likely hiring somewhat regularly, there will likely be something for the employee to come back to when they can return to work.
I was trying to find out what UPS does as far as the 90 days thing goes. I couldn't find an answer but I did find out that if you are not eligible for FMLA (e.g. not enough hours worked), you only get 42 days of leave and only then after working at least 3 years at UPS. At least FedEx gives you the 90 days regardless of whether you qualify for FMLA or not. My point being there is no perfect solution that covers 100% of the people 100% of the time. It's easy for both of us to take our experiences and say "see what FedEx does" but the reality is that neither one of us is always right.
I guess this is a huge difference between fedex and ups. We've had several drivers come back to work after being out for a year or more. One was work related and the other was personal. When they were able to come back, they were put back in the same spot when they left. I couldn't imagine working for a company that throws you out to pasture like fedex. That's pathetic.
