UPS loses lawsuit

[menotyou]

In my recent experience of representing a driver who was almost discharged because of an "accident", I'm surprised that more drivers do not get their own lawyer and file a lawsuit against UPS/Union for wrongful discharge. UPS's philosophy is the complete opposite of the judicial system...which is "Guilty until proven Innocent". I had a Labor Manager come across the table at me when I quoted State and City Code indicating that the other person involved in the accident was actually at fault. The Labor Manager became enraged and yelled "I don't care about what the other person did".

I totally empathize with most of the drivers as most of them simply take suspended days without pay rather than chance losing their job at the panel. It is about time that someone without balls.....had the balls to take on Big Brown....

Boo!

 

[ORLY!?!]

One would think the fired ratio of men to women drivers would be higher for men, since that makes up the vast majority of drivers.

Plus she was pergo, shouldve had the common sence to let her off until a few months after the birth. This company is run by idiots.

 

[mistreated]

change of subject. I'm new to brown cafe and dont know how to post something. I feel stupid, but can anyone help?

 

[moreluck]

change of subject. I'm new to brown cafe and dont know how to post something. I feel stupid, but can anyone help?

You have 6 posts. How did you do them?? No one can help you further feel stupid.....you and only you can feel stupid alone!!

 

[Island]

All the women I work with are given cushy spots and offered transfers into other departments or into management. Case in point, every employee of my building's High Value dept have been attractive and/or young women. While you might think this is an ergonomics decision (some in mgmt believe women shouldn't be package handlers), we have small people working in irregs and large, strong people working in small sort, hunched over the little mini belts. And as long as I'm talking about favorites, selective harassment and discrimination, we've caught some in FT management being blatantly racist. Unfortunately the 800 number completely ignores us.

 

[Robert Chavez]

What a shame UPS needs to get it together and act like a billlion dollar company and treat there employs the same. but i guess we will have to wake them up in August when were on strike for a month and they lose 20% of there bussiness to there competetors.

 

[chuchu]

Ok....we just had a female FT driver hit a 2 ft wide concrete light post, bending the front bumper out and smashing the fiberglass front end of a P-10....and did NOT report it. The accident happened after lunch so she had all day to see the damage and call it in. She gambled and lost because the driver who had the route the next day found the damage and reported it. It was her 10th accident in about 12 years.

Management took her out of service for dishonesty and failure to report, etc for termination.

She told the steward that she "got out of the truck and saw the damage and there was paint missing on the front housing too". The very next day her testimony was "I never got out of the truck to see the damage".

When she cried in the office during the initial interview, the management deleted the DISHONESTY part out of the termination charge. What bull.

After about four weeks they gave her job back to her.

So, consider this: We had two male drivers do the same thing and they no longer work at UPS. We also had this female drivers buddy (also a female driver) wreck a truck, ripping 3-4 ft of aluminum off the top of the truck. She DID NOT REPORT IT EITHER and ALL SHE GOT WAS A WRITE UP!

I know these incidents to be true because I am the FT steward who sat in the hearings and watched these whole disgustingly one-sided events go down.

I believe the company has directives toward "numbers" in many catagories as do many other companies but if I was one of the male drivers that got terminated (permanently) for the same things these female drivers did I would be finding myself an attorney group that wanted to make some money and I would go get some back pay. I'm going to make sure all the men learn to cry in the office when they are getting written up so they can get off with lesser punishment.

The UPS saying of old used to be " right is right everyday". Now it is more like "who" is right versus "what" is right. It makes me sick.

 

[SignificantOwner]

One would think the fired ratio of men to women drivers would be higher for men, since that makes up the vast majority of drivers.

Plus she was pergo, shouldve had the common sence to let her off until a few months after the birth. This company is run by idiots.

The amount of time off is contractual, but any employee can file for additional time through FMLA if necessary.

 

[Floridacargocat]

Extracted quote " I don't care..." appears to be one of the common phrases in all our communications up and down.
More than a generation ago, I learned from a VP Marketing & sales, who later became one of the very select top managers at a respected multinational company that " I do not care" is a sign of serious non-involvement in a chain leading to customer non-satisfaction. Maybe our individual role is insignificant and minor, but we do have to perform this role, as otherwise the chain of events (leading to service) is interrupted, and the customer will not get his product. Why? Very simple. "Not my job, I do not care, I can't change it".
More than a generation ago, I learned a simple lesson. How do you judge the state of a factory/warehouse/office? By sthe state of cleanliness of the restrooms. If they are clean, a conscientious effort is made to maintain sanitation/ health and all the ensueing characteristics, covering each and everybody. And where are we? And where is everybody (on an individual basis) in regards to do his/hers utmost to provide a service to the customer within the framework of his duties (and maybe beyond)? Numbers are not everything. I still have to meet a controller, who can give me a "number" / relationship between involvement of personnel on all levels and satisfactory service provided to the customer.
Sometimes these controllers cannot give a number for the simple reason that it is not budgeted. And then we (on the floor) have to find ways to achieve these non-budgeted activities.
Sometimes these legal victories of the company appear to be "Phyrric" victories (plain English: we have saved a Dollar, but we have spent e.g. 100 Dollars for it, very cost-effective, isn't it?). Even when the company is losing a legal fight, a controller should have asked " How cost-effective is our fight"

 

[formymax]

If you were the FT steward during the male drivers' firings then why didn't you bring up the discrepancies in discipline at their hearings? If the male drivers' accidents happened before her last incident and too much time has passed then, as a steward, use this situation to your advantage. If your claim is true about her egregious accident record, then management has set the bar extremely high for any driver with multiple accidents. Discrimination is a violation of the contract and like any other violation it can be grieved - file or quit whining.

If the Union had done their due diligence in defending Ms. Ibarra, they would have filed a discrimination grievance on her behalf to argue the wrongful termination. In essence the Union did her a favor. Had the Union disclosed disciplinary outcomes of previous accidents in her defense, she could've have won at panel and been back working in that miserable delivery center. In the end, that decision would have been final and binding. Instead, the Union gave her grounds to file a lawsuit.
The bottom line with this company is: male, female, black, white, gay, straight, etc., management will get rid of you if they don't like you. Anyone who has ever worked for this company knows that. If you fall out of favor, they will put a bullseye on your back and go to great lengths to make your life miserable. Do you think for a second that when a supe decides to target someone, he stops and says "I wonder if I'll be violating Article 36 of the contract or Title VII of the Civil Rights Act?". I've seen management cost the company big bucks (missing pick-ups, etc), in their blind rage to zero in a certain individuals.
At the end of the news article appears the attorney's website and an email address. I would suggest, that anyone who has a similar story to Ms Ibarra's and can help her case, to use that contact info.

 

[chuchu]

If you were the FT steward during the male drivers' firings then why didn't you bring up the discrepancies in discipline at their hearings? If the male drivers' accidents happened before her last incident and too much time has passed then, as a steward, use this situation to your advantage. If your claim is true about her egregious accident record, then management has set the bar extremely high for any driver with multiple accidents. Discrimination is a violation of the contract and like any other violation it can be grieved - file or quit whining.

Im not whining, Im stating facts. I was not the steward when the two male drivers were fired. They were fired with just cause under article 17. The two female drivers were not terminated even tho they did the same thing the men did. Their accidents happened after the male drivers were terminated.

Im not going to sit in a hearing and tell the mgmnt that they should fire the two female drivers because they fired the men. What a stupid comment to make. The management is now setting a different standard for ANY driver to use if that happens again in our center and I will use that info.

Try to be alittle less abrasive in your response to people who give alot of free time (and take alot of heat) to protect their co-workers for no extra compensation. Being a master of the obvious isn't a plus.